Anti-Smashing Pumpkins
Growing up "May Day" was a thing. We would keep those small, flimsy, plastic green baskets that strawberries would come in from the grocery store and fill them with sweets, small gifts and a little note then drop them off randomly at a neighbor or friends front door carefully... then get the heck out! It was always a fun feeling when you were special enough to someone that they would leave you a small gift of kindness.
The "May Day" tradition fades as you get older. Mainly because the idea of getting up early in the morning to run around the neighborhood when you can get that few extra minutes of sleep is just not a something I want to do. Like... at all. That and everyone has Ring or some other form of surveillance and it would set off a notification to the home owners and you would be on video sneaking around like Pennywise with a strawberry basket attached to a red balloon. So I have a better idea. And here is how that idea came to fruition....
The kids had already left for school. I had showered, dressed, kissed the dogs and was heading out to work while my husband was still asleep after his late night shift at work. I pulled out of my garage and as I looked at the front porch while hitting the button to close the garage door I see two carved pumpkins sitting at the top steps. Huh? I know I didn't make any jack-o-lanterns lately. I am 1003% sure my husband didn't and I don't remember seeing the twins slicing up some pumpkin faces. If either of them would put in the work, it would be Cassidy, so I started there. Apparently earlier that evening while she was at her youth group, she carved these two pumpkins and set them on the front porch upon returning home last night. That was both a relief, because the mystery had been solved (bingo!)... and a slight disappointment, because for a brief moment I thought someone had anonymously gifted us with 2 carved pumpkins (bummer!).
In this blooms my thought: Instead of people going around smashing pumpkins (...singing "1979" now...) what if we instead carved a pumpkin and left it on someone's porch as a gift instead? I would really enjoy something like that. You can carve out a masterpiece for a good friend, or carve a giant hole in the front of one for someone a little lower on your list. You know, like your boss or the neighbor who never rakes their leaves up fast enough in the fall and they blow into everyone else's lawn. That's me by the way, sorry neighbors! And while there is still the issue of someone's Ring alerting them to your pumpkin shenanigans, I think it's okay because everyone is wearing a mask now anyway, right? Thanks Covid!
Of course this thought came to me this morning and Halloween is in 3 days. That would be some serious flight of the bumble-bee carving I would have to do in a short period of time. Well, that or everyone gets the big hole in the front and I save the Bob Ross level carving until next Halloween.
Happy little trees... and Happy Halloween everyone!