Tying One on With a Mask

Happy Halloween All! Or Samhain if you'r Wiccan.

It's been a rough few days. Been sick as hell lately, but you know, the parent's work is never done. Makes me think of a bit I saw from John Leguizamo a few years ago. Basically the gist was " Being a single parent means, always stressed, always broke and always incapable of getting a date." The first two I can agree with, the last, really doesn't matter. But that gets me to the point of this blog, mini me dressed for Halloween as, what can only best be described as, a dapper demented clown. He was decked out in black pants, black shirt, black vest, black hat a black tie and of course, a demented clown mask.

Perhaps it is me reflecting back on my own life, but I spent the better part of an hour teaching mini-me how to tie the tie, and in that, I think it is a rite of passage. No more of those silly clip on's. Now some may say a tie is just an accessory, which is true. On the other hand though, the ability to accessorize, to just tie that knot opens up a new world. Gone are the graphic tee's which say " Here lies student. Died too young. Bored to death." Oh ok, that is the shirt I wore in 7th grade, but that was when ...well never mind, don't wish to date myself.

No the ability to tie that knot is a sure sign of mini-me's passage from childhood, if ever there was one. Honestly though, it doesn't upset me. It doesn't upset me because of the mask, or rather how he acted once the mask went on.

To be sure, Halloween is a time to pretend we, child and adult alike,  are someone or something else, but at our core, we are who we are. Our actions dictate our character. I tend to think some wear masks so often, and change them so regularly that they know not who they are.

Walter Anderson said "The first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves." Being the dutiful father, I made sure that someone was with mini me and his friends as they went on their great candy hunt. The feedback I got was interesting. The parent told me that no one recognized mini-me, until his actions showed his character. Evidently he saw someone get separated from a group and helped that person catch up. When I asked about it, his response was, "it was the right thing to do"

 Now I am sure mini-me doesn't really know who he is yet, but the simple fact he that it was the right thing to do shows me he is well on his way.  Though he had that mask on, he was true to himself. A father couldn't ask for more.