Haunted House

Last night I took my daughter to her first haunted house experience - Bloodview. Staffed by the Legion of Terror, the LoT actors did a wonderful job not only populating the haunted houses and walkways with monsters, but leaving no place "safe" for those in attendance. The parking lot, the food court, there was no place you couldn't run into a ghoulish figure bent on scaring you.

Even the location is a bit off the beaten path. Dark. Somewhat foreboding.

My daughter got her money's worth before we even bought our tickets. Like a typical pre-teen, she isn't always aware of her surroundings and a man with a hook slammed the hurricane fence next to her and screamed in her face. There was a lot of screaming in your face, which makes me wonder if the actors don't end up with sore throats.

Anyway, it was a wonderfully frightening experience for her. I had a blast, too, watching her and enjoying the work that was put into the production.

I even went back later, with my wife and son. Judging that it would be too intense for my son, I sent my wife through with my daughter. Evidently, it was different enough on the second pass to scare my daughter again. I hung out in the food court with my son, who enjoyed the roaming actors and the fire-breathing show.

Admission is a bit pricey at $15 pp, but the proceeds go to charity. The food and drink, however, was very affordable (most things $1).

Catching Up

I haven't written much lately. I guess I just fell out of the habit. So let me catch up with some of my life's events.

• Became Brunswick Nation Chief of the Medina Guides & Princesses
• Spent an overnight at The Wilds, a game preserve in southern Ohio
• Needed some work done on our furnace, a/c, & water tank - decided to replace it all
• Work has gotten more weird for me, which was unexpected
• Forty-fifth birthday: camera and Arduino (I'm such a geek)

Clocking Time

Right now, my thoughts are nine months ahead of me. I'm thinking about our vacation plans for the summer. Jackson, WY. Yellowstone. Grand Tetons. Midwestern boy playing cowboy for a week.

There's a tinge of worry, fraying at the edges of my dreams. Money. Soffits this spring, furnace this fall, wife looking for work - money is a worry. Not that we won't have it. No. The worry is that we won't spend it. That I will feel guilty with every dollar spent on frivolity. Just like the fear that my son will misbehave, it's probably misplaced.

Dammit, though. It doesn't do much to weaken my vision of what could be a wonderful vacation. As good as any we've had with or without the kids. Right now, I'm clocking time. My heart is nine months hence. Waiting.

Lucky Man

I love my wife.

No. Really. Take a pause and let that sink in.

I am head-over-heals in love with my wife.

We've known each other for decades, now. We are comfortable with one another - able to finish each others' sentences. We laugh at the same stupid stuff (today is was the old Purina Cat Chow commercials with the cat dancing to chow-chow-chow). We know and accept the other's foibles.

But that's not what I'm talking about. I don't mean that feeling of togetherness that comes from being together. I don't mean that flutter of the heart one gets when reunited. I mean that feeling you get when you just love another person to the point of almost physical pain. That love where, if you could, you'd wipe the board clean and do nothing but spend every available moment in each other's arms.

I don't know why I feel this way - I don't always. I just wish the kids would go to bed (yes, it's the middle of the afternoon) so my wife and I could spend hours together.

Life goes on. Dinner gets cooked, beds get made, shows get watched. That overwhelming love gets put in a box and shoved into the closet. But it's there. And it comes out, all by itself, and doesn't care whether it's convenient. I am an incredibly lucky man, because I love my wife.

Inflection Point

Have I hit one of life's inflection points, or have I just strung together a couple bad weeks? When you're in the midst of things, it can be hard to tell. It feels that way, to me. It feels like things are going downhill, as a prelude to another upswing. Maybe. You see, when things are going to shit you can't really smell the roses. You just imagine them behind the next pile of shit.

There's no way to short-circuit the process. There's no good vantage to gain to see the future with any useful clarity. It could be just wishful thinking - oh, I haven't ruled that out - but my history is one of peaks and valleys and, thus far, every valley has been followed by a mountain.

As they say, past performance is not indicative of future gains - but that's all the information I have to work with.