Halloween, part of my favourite time of the year. Finland doesn't really celebrate it, but a few places put up decorations, a few houses have pumpkins out and offer treats. My children, of course, didn't understand that it wasn't a big deal here and were still over-excited. So I invited some extra kids over (we don't have any restrictions here) for a Halloween playdate and then took one along with us on a quick trick-or-treating to a couple of friends' house. They still managed a decent haul.
Samhain, the Celtic holiday which Halloween is based on, is celebration of the year's end. The moment between the old and the new year where the veil between life and death thins. I've long considered Oct 31 my New Year's Eve, a point where my life has often changed. I celebrate the end of old and the potential of the beginning. I turned 50 this week as well, a good time for a change.
A few opportunities have popped up this week and while they're not perfect or long-lasting, I've decided to go with them. One is teaching creative writing at after-school clubs. It's only for one term and will possibly mess up other potential work as it's a set time. As it's later than regular school hours, it will also make dinner-time a bit stressful. I really miss this sort of work and it will be fun as it's mainly keeping the kids engaged for an hour, no stress to really produce anything, so we can just play about with word games and writing silly poems. We'll see how it goes, if it's too much trouble I won't offer to do it again. Or it might lead to something else.
Is it best to stumble into something and continue to follow that momentum or to strive to find a strict path? I'm torn, I've bumbled the past year or so and occasionally good things happen, but it's not enough to support a family, to feel secure.
But I'm feeling positive, a new start, hopefully something good will develop.
