Halloween is one of my absolute favorite holidays. People think it is crazy, but I can't deny my love for the apples, the foliage, sweater weather, pumpkins, Hocus Pocus, candy corn, corn mazes, and using my imagination. The thrill, the sheer excitement, and the mysteriousness stir a curiosity no other time of the year can, but just like in "Wizards of Waverly Place," "Everything is not what it seems."
Also, who doesn't like eating candy for breakfast, lunch, AND DINNER?
But isn't it ironic that in fall and October there is Halloween? The intent is to be scary and to scare because of the people that we lose? In Spanish, Halloween is the day of the dead that celebrates the loss of their loved ones, but cultures around the world cannot find the courage in their hearts to overcome the one thing love actually can, which is fear.
Halloween gives us the ability to be someone else. Maybe it is someone you have always wanted to be, and maybe it is something or someone you'd absolutely never be. Either way, this holiday gives us the chance to do both anyway. It is underestimated, but there isn't a whole lot more that teaches us than seeing ourselves in the people and things we least expect.
Rihanna reminds us that she, "found love in a hopeless place," and I can tell you that we can find love by being authentically ourselves, which is a lot harder than I or Rihanna would have imagined.
Love is scary. When you admit to loving someone or something you are admitting how much they matter to you, and by doing this you admit that you have a whole lot to lose. Losses stay with you. They caution us on how easy it is to feel the depths of pain loss provides. But what is a full life without these feelings?
With that in mind, my favorite definition of fall is, "to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support." There are so many types of falls. There's falling in love, the time of the year, things falling into place, free falling, night falling, amongst a slew of others.
This is why I love the fall. It is truly, undeniably authentic. Is it just me or is it weird that the spooky vampire show "The Originals" is called, "The Originals." Nothing does last forever, and eventually, like the dead, you can find peace in it. Fall shows us the beauty and eventually the art in letting go of the things that seemingly matter most.
Fall allows us to stop, for only when we do, can we see where we want to go and where we can find the hope we need to see another leaf turn and fall.
