Happy Samhain!

Pumpkins are carved, seeds have been roasted, costumes are ready. (Whether or not BB will wear hers is yet to be seen.) Halloween looks to be a rainy event this year, alas. But it should still be fun, even if we end up trick-or-treating under umbrellas.

As I always do during this time of year, I'm thinking about endings and beginnings, harvesting and planting, all those magical and mystical cycles. Samhain is the Celtic New Year and for me it always brings on such ruminations. I've been falling into some bad habits lately, so I wanted to take this opportunity to make a few resolutions. I often think about making changes at this time of the year, but this is the first time I've been this formal about it (not to mention so thoroughly public). The ones I make in January rarely come to anything, so perhaps I'll have more success with this approach.

Resolutions tend to deal primarily in more and less, as if the way to a better life were merely some sort of simple math equation. Add x, subtract y, equals happiness. It's been a long time since I studied calculus, but these days my life feels so complex, with so many variables to balance in the equation, that the thought of basic addition and subtraction feels both refreshing and not a little naive. But I'll give it a go.

Tonight I will light a candle, and with the sparking of that flame I will intend: to smile more and yell less, to spend less time in the land of expectation and instead live more in the moment, to exercise more, to worry less, to make more opportunities to hold hands with S, to write more, to create more, to read more, to sleep more.

We'll see what kind of sum comes from all this. Wish me luck!