November 01, 2005
Who’s Treating? Who’s Tricked?
I love Halloween night when the trick-or-treaters come out in their costumes with their treat bags opened wide. I’ve loved Halloween ever since I was a kid and I was one of those costumed kids. I couldn’t wait to fill my bag up with all kinds of sweets – especially chocolate. All we had to do was don a cool costume -- witch, princess, hippy, kitty cat – and hold out our huge bags, and we got goodies. How cool is that?
Now it’s fun to see what the kids will come dressed as. I like to guess who or what they are trying to be. When I guess wrong, the kids always correct me. But when I guess right, they are psyched. They seem almost taken aback that an adult knows anything about the Sith or Jedi Knights. I mean, how could they know I was 16 when Star Wars, Episode III came out and that I have been a fan ever since?
Having the advantage point of adulthood and standing on the inside of the front door handing out the treats, I suddenly realized what Halloween trick-or-treating is mostly about. I mean, who foots the bill for the costumes? Adults. Who buys the treats and makes sure there is chocolate? Adults. Who makes sure they are home (or not) on Halloween to greet the kids? Adults. Who gets to see the spectacle of tiny ladybugs with gossamer wings tacked onto the back of winter coats, lop-side-eared Yodas, Grim Reapers with their Reapings, and squat witches with purple-lit black hats pulled over their eyes who trip over the landscaping? Adults. Who gets to eat the left over candy? Adults.
Ah-ha! Man, if I knew the adults were having such a good time watching the spectacle I made in my costume on Halloween and secretly whispering, “Isn’t she cute?” I would never have felt the same. I mean, I thought we were taking the adults for a ride. And all the time it was a conspiracy for adults to get a kick out of the kids. And the funny part is, if you told a kid that this was going on, they wouldn’t believe you. They would be too far into it to see that they have been swallowed up by the conspiracy. And as an adult, how cool is that?
Goodbye to Zsa Zsa
[Picture taken with Olympus C4000 digital]
Some of you remember Zsa Zsa, our 17-year-old kitty.
We said good bye to her this morning at the vet's. She was diagnosed with mast cell cancer almost 3 years ago, but she also had bad kidneys, and that is finally what made her very sick. But the last 3 years were pretty good to her. We are glad she hung around for them.
She had a good, long, life, and we enjoyed her company very much. She was a perky, quirky cat. Most people who came to the house, even those who weren't really "cat" people, fell in love with the Z. She was a colorful kitty with many nicknames -- some coined by Dave, some by me, and some by friends: Zeus, Dimmy, Dwim, Boobles, Zsazsler, Z. She was known for her bent tail, which gave me the idea for her name. It was bent into a perfect "Z."
I found Zsa Zsa along with her adopted sister, Eva, at a woman's house. A friend told me that this woman had "rescued" many animals from the local Humane Society's euthanasia line and needed help finding them homes. When I walked in, 30 or 40 kittens were running around her living room. I saw Zsa Zsa immediately -- she was the only kitten who looked at me upside down. That's right. She sat facing away from me and looked at me by tilting her chin all the way up and looking at me over her shoulder. Then I saw the tail. The woman told me no one would adopt Z because they thought she was deformed. How silly! I took both Zsa Zsa and Eva home with me that night to my one bedroom apartment where my two adult kitties, Cocoa and Kizzy, were waiting. I caused an uproar among both felines and humans that week!
Goodbye Z. I hope you charm folks where you are now as much as you did here.