Yeah, gotta take some time off. Back in October.
Yeah, gotta take some time off. Back in October.
On my usual Thursday shopping excursion I came across a talking Christmas ornament in the Carlton Cards store. I haven’t gotten into collecting ornaments, mostly because i don’t get into trees anymore. Still my shopping buddy enjoys the anticipation of seeing the new collectibles when they start showing up around June each year, so I was looking at them while she decided which ones she wanted to add to her warehouse sized collection.
As a Twilight fan I would have considered buying any such themed ornaments had they been available: they weren’t. What did attract my eye was a talking ornament featuring Bela Lugosi as Dracula, with several classic (dare I say immortal) lines from the appropriately accented voice of the greatest king vampire portrayer ever. After listening to the first phrase to respond to my press of the hidden button (“I am. . . .Dracula, I bid you velcome!”) I moved on to check out the other ornaments and catch up with my friend.
While I was in the middle of noticing that the employees had mixed up the names of the South Park Cartman and Kyle in the display, a woman came into the store and gravitated immediately to the same Dracula ornament. What struck me about the visitor was her pale mien, lack of hair and sheer scarf wrapped stylishly around her head. My guess, like anybody else’s, was that she was likely undergoing chemo, and I tried not to seem as if I was staring.
Suddenly my mind began to whirl. Being a Dracula fan for years, I am very familiar with the most popular lines Lugosi spoke in the role, and as I saw her press the button on the ornament I anticipated–and got–an unexpected scene played out in front of me. The next line to come up on the ornament was, “There are worse things awaiting men than death.” She released the ornament and walked quietly away, but the implications of that moment were simply mind-numbing.
I have been able to come up for air just long enough to observe how the timing of the Labor Day weekend and the sudden change from summer heat to September chill was amazingly out of whack this year.
Labor Day was a week late this year as it was, but the cold weather arrived early as if to stomp out any “last hurrah” folks would want to indulge in before school and regular autumnal life started. School started early for many people as well: they even had kids in school for two or three days before letting them out for three days again. What was that all about?
The lower temperatures came at an appropriate time for me because I didn’t have air conditioning for a few days. Had the heat stayed around I would never have been able to function in those last days of vacation. Now that the artificial cool has come back, we’ve spent two days relying on the artificial heat because somebody just yanked the plug on indian summer.
Last week was a madhouse, with nothing but meetings, appointments and adjustments to new schedules. Next week won’t be any better. This is how it will be until the holidays, when we add more insanity to the mix. Why do we do this to ourselves? Can’t we stand on even ground all year and not have to worry about adjusting all the time?
 | Eden on Free Secretary |
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| Eden on The Unasked Questions |
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