I think we’ve swapped out the West Coast for the East Coast. This morning a friend commented weeks have passed since we’ve seen more than two days in a row filled with sunshine.

A Nor’easter came roaring through at one point and gave us 4 consecutive days of deluge. The skies cleared and we settled in expecting some decent weather for cleaning up yards and getting prepared for the winter but then the winds started howling and we found ourselves looking at dark clouds and more rain. A storm this past week dumped 5 inches of water and roads were flooded and some back bay neighbors found themselves living on islands. The water appeared Saturday to be receding and a weather man at Channel 11 in Baltimore said during the 6:00 P.M. newscast there wouldn’t be much heavy rain into Sunday morning.

After sunset my girlfriend came along with dinner and we sat on the deck watching the clouds roll quickly past the moon. There were no trick-or-treaters. The house is at the end of a dead end road. On a windy and partly cloudy evening and hidden among the tall pines it’s an uninviting place, I suppose, for children. It’s where the grumpy old philosopher lives.

Halloween Day was warm and muggy and I propped open skylights and threw open windows but shortly after ten I heard rainfall. As I closed the openings rain began pounding heavily. This morning it was chilly and damp and gray and the leaves falling from the trees are clumped together and wet. Not easy to rake or sweep. The day and many recent days I’ll describe as glum.

It’s also how I’ll describe Halloween for many of the kids in these parts. Working in talk radio offers a window on the community. The window offers a view that a great many parents don’t want their youngsters out on October 31 and not because there may be bullies and tainted candy. It’s because some parents believe putting on a costume greases the slide to Hell. Last night I shared with my significant other a story about a talk show I hosted years ago. People were calling me on-air bemoaning the commercialization of Christmas. One fellow went so far as to say his children received only 3 gifts because it’s what the baby Jesus got from the Wise Men. From a Biblical perspective, what 3 Wise Men? The fable also says among the gifts received by Jesus was gold. Then why didn’t he grow up in a palace with the sudden family wealth? Look, it’s your choice how you celebrate a holiday. Christmas is an arbitrary date set by a clergyman and the way I remember it when I was a kid it was quite joyous. Children and joy and laughter.

As a little boy I recall Halloween as an event filled with joy. One year, when I was 7, I was sick at home on Halloween night. My sister took an extra bucket that night and the resulting sympathy vote put a smile on my face.

Why, in such a sometimes nasty world, filled with recession, floods and famine are some folks looking to steal happiness? Are you trying to prepare young people for the rigors ahead? An alternative would be to make life worthwhile with moments of laughter. The late author and columnist, Jim Bishop, once put this in a perspective I’ve never forgotten. The man was watching from a window on a cold and gray winter day as children were riding sleds down a nearby hill. There were a few seconds of shrieks and laughter and then a long and quiet trudge back atop the snow covered hill. It’s called metaphor and it tells us much about living.

It’s my hope there were children out last night for rare enjoyment. I don’t believe an animal mask, Snickers bars and cavities condemn a 7 year old to the fiery furnace for eternity.

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