"Pumpkining" - Mary Anna Hickling
LAST WEEKEND WE HELD our annual celebration of "Pumpkining".
It began years ago, when my wife and I and a close friend decided to take our kids on a little outing before Halloween.
We drove out to the country with a picnic, found a small park, and had lunch.
The kids played on the playground equipment while the adults watched and talked.
Afterward, we wended our way to a farm that specialized in pumpkins for Halloween, and we each picked out a pumpkin.
We came home and carved jack-o-lanterns together, feasting on chili and cornbread.
The next year, of course, the kids wanted to do it again, and now, twenty some years later, we're still doing it, with a slightly different configuration of people— marriages, two of the kids moving away, the remaining kids bringing their kids, etc.—but still the same basic elements: pumpkins, conversation, carving, corn bread, and chili.
The point, of course, is that there is no point—no point beyond the fellowship, the sound of human voices, the sharing of our creativity, the making of a holy time and space for an evening in which to connect and appreciate each other.
It's the creation of meaning.
It's what humans do.
Also, it's fun.
At least, that's what I think today.
