I look forward to our pumpkin carving adventures for MONTHS. I'd even go out on a limb and say it's my favorite weekend of the entire year. I start planning for it in the summer, when pumpkins haven't even begun to grow in the patches yet! I think I even made them mark this date on their calendar back in the winter! It's just such a fun and special time for me... a weekend spent with some of my dearest friends who are practically like second parents to me. We always go to the farm, take the cheesy hayride out to the patch, and spend way more time than needed selecting the perfect orange subject for our carving mastery. Then we go back to their house, feast on hearty, comforting fall foods, make delicious apple pies and other delectable desserts for late night snacking, and then we carve into the wee hours of the night. Suzi and I always end up staying up until we can barely see straight we're so tired, and we set up the four pumpkins and take a zillion pictures until we get one that captures the four of them just right. This year was going to be extra special because we were going to carve our pumpkins the night before Halloween, and then have them all aglow for the kids when they came around trick-or-treating on Saturday. But alas, we will not be going down to Belcamp this year.
And I think part of the reason this is making me so upset is because I was looking forward to this last year of our tradition being the way it is. This is our last year for it to be just us, and we will have to learn how to make life work as a family of 3 in a few short months. I am a sucker for tradition as it is; and I have very few that are THAT important to me. Every other year we go up to Albany NY for Thanksgiving with my side of the family, and that is a major one for me. And Christmas morning is always spent at my parents, feasting on a big breakfast my Dad has prepared for us. And of course we always do the Race for the Cure on Mother's Day in honor of my Mom. And then there's Pumpkin Weekend in Maryland.
Next October, we will have an 8 month old baby girl on our hands, and I'm guessing that life as we know it will be non-existent. Doesn't mean we won't be able to still participate in our favorite activities, and of course we will be able to uphold these traditions that are so important to us, but... well, this one was extra special to me. And I feel like maybe it's over now. Like a good friend said to me this morning, "perhaps it's time that Dave and I practice starting new traditions," and while she's absolutely right, I'm not quite sure I was ready for that. I was SO looking forward to this weekend, and spending time with these friends and carving my pumpkin together with them. And although I know Dave and I will still have fun on Friday at Varner's Farm here in Collegeville, and we will certainly make the best of our amended pumpkin activities... I'm still really sad that it's not going to be the way it was.
But I suppose I should get used to life not being the way it was.
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