The seasons are changing here in the Midwest and everywhere you look is a plethora of pumpkin spice and Halloween. Houses are decorated with giant spiders, pumpkins, ghosts, skeletons, and tombstones. In my before, I never gave any of this a second thought. Now I find it a little odd people are out there setting up fake cemeteries in their yards with skeletons and ghosts galore. I don’t know if I’m the weird one or if society is the weird one.
My middle son has a birthday close to Halloween, so he is always the one pressing me to get out the decorations this time of year. He excitedly goes through the bins and places the décor around the house. All while lamenting how we need more, because compared to Christmas the amount we have is shameful.
I can’t in good conscience throw any of our old decorations out until they break. However, it feels a little weird placing a bowl of bones and skulls on the dining room table. Don’t get me started on the zombie hand sticking out of the grass in the front yard. I don’t squash the stuff because the kids don’t seem to mind. I find it weird and kind of ironic, but not necessarily triggering.
On the other hand, when I do find myself in Target wandering the seasonal Halloween department, I don’t pick up anything related to dead people. I stick to pumpkins, witches, bats, and spiders. There is still plenty to chose from at Halloween that isn’t directly inspired by the dead.
While this isn’t that life altering for me. It’s another example of how many things in my life have changed with widowhood. And like everything else, I’m sure we widows are spread across the spectrum. Many have probably never even thought about this. Some probably didn’t decorate to start with. I’d put money that someone out there used to decorate their house to the brim with all kinds of awesome creepy things and maybe you can or can’t still do it anymore.
We all handle this season of change in our own way. I’ll decorate how I want to, avoiding all the pumpkin spice, and missing the warm weather of summer. No way is right, and no way is wrong.
