The Coronavirus: Halloween

...and another holiday is corrupted by COVID-19. Halloween is a big event in this neighborhood. Parents bring their kids from other locations, drop them off at on end of the development and pick them up at the other. We have a big pot luck dinner in the cul de sac around the corner.  We decorate our house; this year adding the "ghost of the tree we cut down in March" inflatable out front.

This year, pandemic be damned, we started a 5k fun run after my running buddy and I thought it up out of the blue. I can attest that we had less than the NC mandated number for public gatherings. It was great to see people come out and enjoy a glorious day with mild temperatures.  It was my first "community organizing" event; the first of many in the future, perhaps.  After eight months of socially distancing and having events "turned off" it was a necessary release of doing something that wasn't exactly right, but certainly not wrong.

Sam and her fellow Cadets from UNC came down to help support the run by handing out water bottles, moving tables, and providing extra sets of hands to set up and tear down.  TJ and Grant both ran - with Grant running almost the entire distance!

Lisa put together her Wonder Woman outfit and ran with our neighbors Valerie and Becky while I ran around the course taking pictures for the Facebook page. I have to admit, getting the positive feedback was a nice affirmation of our work.

Later we set up for trick or treat. Let's face it, it was gonna happen.  Halloween was on a Saturday, with a full moon and awesome weather for crying out loud. There was no way the kids were going to stay in.  Lisa made over a hundred small baggies of candy and we set up a table at the end of the driveway. With a spotlight to shine on the tomb stones and decorations we had a spooky distribution of all the candy in the bags and then some of the candy the boys brought back with them.  TJ (a ghost) and Grant (a kids with a rocket pack) were joined by their buddy Evan M. (a specter) who returned to the neighborhood for the day.  

At 8pm we shut it down; folded up the table, turned off the spot light, and turned off every light in the house.  We went through 100+ pieces of candy. We got to see lots of cute kids who like the rest of us needed to get out and be a little normal for a little while. 

It was spook-tacular.