One Final Thing
At least for now.
Today is October 31, 2024 — Halloween. This day means a lot to me in a lot of ways.
For one, I spent a lot of my 20s and early 30s as a cosplayer and avid costumer for various events. I did conventions and Ren Faires primarily, but Halloween was a time to bring out whatever my costume du jour was at the time and wear it into the office. This was a day for me to enjoy that particular side of myself that I normally kept hidden from the “normal” world.
Halloween also marks the day back in 2016 when we brought one of our cats home for the last time. I’ve talked about our cats a lot before, but eight years ago, toward the end of October, our cat Darby became very ill very suddenly, and inside of a few days had died of whatever the mystery illness was. Halloween marked the day that my wife and I brought his ashes home.
Halloween also marks the pagan holiday Samhain, which among other things is a time when the veil between the living world and the Otherworld is thin. It is a time when we celebrate and remember the dead, which really makes the whole anniversary of our long-passed black cat feel appropriate.
In the modern Celtic Revival, Samhain also marks the end of the old year and the start of the new year. It is the end of the harvest time and the beginning of winter, a notable transition…
