This week started off super productively. I was just… cruising (well, actually, I was getting a lot of writing done). It was write-write-write and everything else. I finished some stuff. I sent some stuff out. Optimism and accomplishment reigned.
I even made—and canned—applesauce. I did some laundry. I cooked some food. I shopped for some more food. I did some conference calling and fundraising strategizing. I took care of some kids.
Today, despite all that productivity—including today’s industriousness—I hit the end of the day with a crash. I want to blame the weather. It started to snow before Halloween. Before Halloween! That is totally unfair. Not that anyone asked me.
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While on the subject—vaguely—of Halloween, I will mention that one of my better parenting moments comes at Halloween, which mostly brings out the worst in my parenting life. The worst: I’m not at all crafty and I abhor commercial costumes. The result is that my kids’ costuming tends to be more conceptual than visually stunning. It’s a day, not a production, after all—or it can be a day, not a production. To be honest, I experience it as kind of an ordeal: the costumes, the sugar overload, the pumpkin seed gorge, and the big school fests that somehow create a great deal of anxiety for my performance-shy third guy. However, my shining moment occurred a few years ago: in an attempt to stem the mainlining of candy, I instituted the “candy-buy-back.”
The “candy-buy-back” is brilliant, and easy. I pay a certain amount per piece you give back, and the sum total you’ve let go of goes to the cause of your choice. People have asked me why not give the kid the cash? My answer is that the candy was a gift; you, too, can pay it forward. Besides, this affords me a very easy, natural way to introduce the feel-good aspect of giving.
The first year we did it my now-thirteen year-old donated his two dollars to the Kerry for President campaign. Fast forward and my third guy was able to extract significantly more per piece, for UNICEF last year.
I find ways to like more about Halloween than the buy back, really and truly(ish).
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As far as seasons go, it feels as if we nearly skipped autumn. Walking through the sleety rain en route to a meeting this evening, I could hardly summon the memory of Tuesday, when I was comfortably snapping photos at the farmers’ market. I was not cold, not an iota, not a scintilla.
