It’s Halloween. Time for the Sassy Sandpiper to explore her darker side.

By M.R. Wilson, TB Reporter

If you hate puns, stop reading immediately.

We don’t need a poll to show us that Halloween festivities are on the decline, but here’s one anyway.

I’m old enough to remember trekking around the neighborhood costumed as a gypsy with my little brother as a bulldog. Lots of other boys and ghouls accompanied by their parents made the rounds, too; the adults waiting at the curb with flashlights while youngsters scrambled to each door, demanding loot.

I’m a grown-up ghoul now, and All Hallows Eve has taken on new dimensions. It’s a time for facing the dark side — even welcoming it — during this time of “thinness between worlds.” The portals open wide between the seen and the unseen, the dead and the undead, the potential and the manifest. Whether ghosts and spirits exist and leave their other-worldly realms is less important to me than appreciating the vastness of culture and tradition surrounding Samhain, also known as the Celtic New Year. I remember my departed loved ones, but don’t set a place for them at the dinner table. I can take stock of and claim ownership of my own darks, stare them down, and renew my vows to keep fighting the good fight against the Dark Saboteur.

But ghouls DO just wanna have fun after all that hard work!

So I’m going to have some of my ghoulfriends over for dinner. I’ll make a spicy ghoulash with Dead Man’s Finger sandwiches on the side and Slime-Ade to drink.

We’ll express our ghoulish charms and make up our faces with a mint-and-cucumber mask, making sure to let it dry completely so it cracks frightfully, accentuating every line and wrinkle. Dark shadow enhances omnipresent under-eye circles; blood-red nail polish for gashes and slashes; black for scars and poorly stitched wounds.

It’s a BYOD party—Bring Your Own Dessert. I’ll have plenty of my favorites on hand: candy corn and caramels.

Afterward, we might drive to the beach to feed the sea ghouls. Trick-or-treating is so yesterday.

Sassy Sandpiper | M.R. Wilson | Halloween | Trick or Treat | Ghoul | TB Reporter

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