Of a Cricked Neck, Storm Troopers and Mountains of Candy

© shoutingforha

It is no secret that I adore Fall. I love everything about it... the cooler temperatures, spectacular colors, pumpkins, Halloween, the sound of leaves crunching under my feet, and most importantly Pumpkin Fest. Of the many festivals that take place in our quaint southern town, it is my favorite.

For weeks I had been looking forward to October 31. As luck would have it, Pumpkin Fest, which always takes place the last Saturday in October, was scheduled to take place on Halloween. Two ridiculously fun events in one day... I was practically bursting with excitement.

Sadly, some things are just not meant to be.

Halloween morning I awoke with the most terrible crick in my neck. As I staggered out of bed, I gently tried to massage my neck in an effort to release the kink. Within five minutes, the once seemingly small crick had escalated into a three alarm headache.

I immediately went to the medicine cabinet and downed five Advil. While my liver took a hardy punch, my head only felt worse. Admitting defeat, I crawled back into the bed and pulled the covers over my head.

© shoutingforha

While I was lying there in agony, my boys headed off to Downtown Franklin WITHOUT ME. They had a great time enjoying all of the festivities. They snacked on healthy fair food including a tin mug of Bayou Billy's Cream Soda, shopped for the perfect rubber band gun, and romped around in the kid zone. As has been the case for the past two years, members of the 501st Legion were there as well.

After the boys returned home, I climbed out of bed, and at first felt significantly better. My excitement, however, was short lived. The kink in my neck was still holding strong and my headache returned with a vengeance. The only logical thing to do was pop another handful of Advil and climb back in bed.

I am not ashamed to admit that by this point I was incredibly pitiful. Not only was I stuck in bed, felling pretty darn crappy, but I had missed Pumpkin Fest and was now in danger of missing out on Halloween in it's entirety. I drifted off to sleep with hot tears streaming down my cheeks.

My nap must have done the trick, because when I finally woke up at 4:45 (yes, I slept almost the entire day), I felt like a million bucks. Halloween was saved.

© shoutingforha

The boy decided to reprise his role as "an army guy" for Halloween this year. After the day I had, I was honestly thrilled that his costume required minimal effort on my part. I painted the boy's face a lovely shade of camouflage green and he added his own special touch... numerous wounds from the battle he had just fought.

As we headed out in search of candy, the hubby and I were surprised by the lack of kids trick-or-treating this year. On a normal year, the number of costume clad children is so great that, at times, it makes walking quite difficult. This year, the streets were practically empty.

I wondered if many of the local churches decided to hold their annual fall festivals on Halloween night. In many parts of the country this would make a negligible difference, but in our town, a church can be found on almost every corner.

Whatever the reason, the boy used it to his advantage. Families who had mountains of sweet treats repeatedly asked the boy, "would you like some more?" While quite burdensome, he agreed to take the extra candy off their hands.

I, for one, will be glad when the boy has consumed the last peanut butter cup from his stockpile. They are like kryptonite to my feeble attempts at willpower. Until then, I am going to eat them in even numbers. That way, any adverse effects will be evenly distributed around my 5 foot 1 inch frame.

A girl can always dream.