Chalk Punkin

This cheerful fellow showed up on my run yesterday. It means it’s finally my favorite time of year again.

I woke up this morning, looked at the news, gasped, and now I have stress hives. It’s probably only going to get worse from here, but at least I have a D&D session tonight and maybe, if I sink myself in work all weekend instead of resting, I’ll have a finished zero to show for it.

I can’t decide. Maybe I’ll wait for the coffee to soak in before making any plans. The prickling painful itch from the hives can’t be treated with antihistamine until after I run, but maybe said run will purge a little of the stress.

At least I can hope, and at least there will be pumpkins and skeletons everywhere. It’s the one time a year my aesthetics are reflected in the larger world, and for that I am grateful. Heaven knows we need something in this benighted year.

Be kind to yourselves this weekend, my beloveds. Turn off the news if you must, take deep breaths, hydrate and rest all you can.

What’s that? I should take my own advice? Oh, you know I’m not good at that… but for you, I’ll try.

Like I keep saying, survival is a victory. May we be victorious as fuck.