Happy Halloween!

Today is Halloween.  It really didn’t feel like Halloween.  At least, not at work today…

Unlike years past, this year my employer sent out an email about a week before Halloween.  In this email we were quoted the work dress and grooming policy and basically told that if our costumes violated the policy we would run the risk of disciplinary action up to and including termination.  So, today, instead of seeing the usual 60 or so employees dressed up for Halloween I have only seen two (I’m told there’s a third, but I never saw him).

Now please don’t get the wrong idea about this post.  I would NEVER dress up at work.  That’s just not my style.  In fact, I haven’t dressed up since I was 11.  I always walk the children around and let them visit our friends and neighbors, but I never “let my hair down” and dress up with them.  My beloved wife has sometimes been known to really get into the spirit of the holiday and dress up with our children, but not me.

Now you might ask, “Why doesn’t it feel like Halloween when he never dresses up – why does he care?” Well, the simple answer is I gain hope for our future from seeing that there are some people who still look for the fun in life and don’t care what others think.  Too often we get wrapped up in the details of trying to eke out a living and forget that we are here to have joy.

So it still didn’t really feel like Halloween, but I did have one bright spot.  I grew up with one of my co-workers and he tends to have a good perspective on all sorts of things.  When he came to work today, he was wearing blue jeans, a button up “Hawaiian” shirt that was covered in Mardi Gras images instead of flowers, and a fedora.  When asked what he was for Halloween, his deadpan reply was, “Your biological father.”  Only he could pull that one off and the fedora definitely made the costume.  Next year, I'm gonna have to steal that!