October 31, 2017, Galactic Medicine Wheel, South, Tiferet Sepheroth
Tuesday, Red Overtone Dragon, Kin 161, Heart Chakra
Fifty years ago, Hallowe’en Eve, 1967, my Dad was transitioning into the next world. This was unexpected. He actually transitioned early on November 1st, All Saint’s Day.
Today, I want to remember him by retelling a Hallowe’en trick he played on myself and my sisters, along with our neighborhood fellow tricksters. I loved his playfulness, and laughter that accompanied him all of his life.
Here is the Halloween “Wisdom Writer’s” Story I wrote, which incorporated the prior week’s subject, “Something from Nothing”.
My Dad had a very creative mind, and was an inventor. The only invention he ever sold was an onion topper. The money from this invention allowed him to finish his last 2 years of college.
After that, he wrote his inventions up and kept them in sealed envelopes, to prove when he had thought of it. It seemed his real interest was the process of figuring something out. My mother always said she could count on him to get the family thru crises. I remember once he got our car started with a paper clip and one other thing. We had a trailer home we used for vacations, and many times we were stuck way away from auto repair shops. He got to use his “figuring out” skills in many ways, and he always seemed pleased when the solutions came through.
This is from the TAO Humor Site – Wisdom writers – Special Days – Hallowe’en
One Halloween when my older sister was probably in eighth grade, my younger sister in first grade and I was in third grade, we went Halloweening with all the kids in the neighborhood. We lived on a gravel road that went for about three blocks and was the county line for a the small town of Danville, Illinois. We really lived in the country and there were about twelve of us who went trick or treating this Halloween. We visited neighbors and teachers that lived on our way to the elementary school we attended. Those were the days when our biggest trick was a notched wooden spool which would make a scary noise when string unwound would make it spin against a window pane. And these were the days when the kids would go inside and visit and have hot chocolate, taffy apples or popcorn (with our friends parents) on a usually frosty evening.
This night we were returning home, laughing about who we had scared and the tricks we had played. We turned onto our road which went gently uphill, appearing that it ended in the moonlit sky. Someone mentioned it looked like something was up at the top of the hill – but, my older sister, Carolyn and Johnny Green – our older guardians- laughed at the thought. We continued on. But, soon someone said: “There is a weird shape up on the top of the hill!” We stopped and it did appear something from afar off was headed our way – outlined in the moonlight! Undaunted, we continued on until it was about a block away and we stopped in our tracks. It appeared about six feet tall and was headless with two arms sticking straight out!
Sure enough, first tilting one way, then the other. TROMP, TROMP, TROMP, TROMP. Coming slowly towards us! By now our chatter and laughter had stopped and we stood in silence trying to figure out what this creature was! TROMP, TROMP, TROMP, TROMP.
Finally, the two older kids yelled – “RUN!” Immediately, there was the familiar laugh of our dad that my sisters and I were relieved to hear! And, the neighborhood kids, too, were well acquainted with the infectious laughter coming from this headless monster. Probably the two older kids pretended they knew who it was all the time, but we all had the best trick played on us trick or treaters that night!
NOW, from the Something for Nothing. Our dad created this fun with a huge overcoat, a broom stick and the idea of putting the broomstick through the sleeves, putting the broomstick on top of his head and buttoning the coat so he could still see through a peek hole. Who knows how long he had to wait at the top of the hill – in the moonlight – to create the perfect time and rhythm – TROMP, TROMP, TROMP, TROMP – to meet us on the hill? I’m sure he was chuckling to himself in anticipation.
My dad was a master at creating Something from Nothing – LOTS OF FUN! I will save for another time some of the other jokes and laughs and fun we had with him.
Article written on 10-18-10
This Halloween Eve of 1967, my dad was scheduled to leave the hospital and go to rehab for a few weeks on the next day, November 1st. Our family had no reason to believe this would not be so.
He wanted to talk to me on the phone. I had no idea this would be our last conversation. My dad said he wanted to tell me how sorry he had been that he did not buy the violin that I had fallen in love with in Indianapolis. In 7th or 8th grade I had needed a new violin bow. Living in a small town, we did not have an adequate music store to find one. We drove to Indianapolis to a violin shop, and I had played on their various violins. There was one I fell in love with. It was just an amazing relationship.
I never asked for it and knew we had come to buy a really nice violin bow, and we did. I really was surprised at the end of my dad’s life, that he remembered that violin. His sweet memory of that experience is still uplifting to me, today. Both of my parents did everything possible to support we 3 girls in our creative endeavors.
Upon returning from trick or treating with our children, my husband had taken a message for me from my mother, that my dad had taken a turn for the worse. They thought a blood clot had broken off from the wounds, gone to his brain, and was affecting his ability to speak. The doctor said he would not last out the night.
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