Plain on Plain - Deployment Daze 45

Tonight is Halloween. As I watch kids and their families run through the neighborhood collecting candy, I realize just how different things are now. Normally when Halloween arrives it is the beginning of a whirl-wind of activity. From October to January, we're celebrating something. Holidays, birthdays, etc. We go all out. There is usually a weeks' worth of work to decorate the house for Halloween. A big monster bash in the making where friends are invited to hang out, costumes and all. Not so this year. It just doesn't have the same appeal.


It reminded me of the day I went to the coffee shop to get a bagel and coffee. Now this coffee shop has the best cheesy bagel. The cheese is baked into the bagel and it gives it a special tangy taste. I usually top it off with the garlic herb cream cheese. The combined flavors are amazing. Well on this day they were out of the cheesy bagel. Gosh, I was really wanting that comfort food because of the crappy week I was having. Oh well, I said to myself and I ordered a plain bagel instead. I could at least get the garlic herb cream cheese. When I arrived back at my office and opened my bag there was my plain, boring bagel, and PLAIN cream cheese.

You see I had experienced the most horrible week to date. I was miserable. The weather was miserable. My job was miserable. Everything about this incredibly horrid state (KS) and town was miserable. And now this. My one spark of joy and comfort. Crushed. As I stared at my plain bagel with plain cream cheese, I thought, "This sums it up. My life right now. A plain bagel with plain cream cheese. Plain on Plain.

A plain on plain just doesn't have the same appeal as a cheesy bagel with garlic herb. There is something special in that combination. It is the pairing of the two that make it tasty. The pairing that makes you enjoy eating it. It isn't as much fun, plain on plain.

So that's how was this year. Halloween or any other holiday/special event just doesn't have that special flavor when someone is absent. It's the combination of everyone that makes the holiday enjoyable. The fun, the flavor, the comfort is in the combination of everyone. That's what makes the holiday enjoyable. Otherwise it's just plain on plain.

To my honey, this week has been hard. You have listened to me mope and be grumpy. I thank you for that. Things just aren't as much fun without your partner in crime. We would have rocked the neighborhood with our Halloween decor. Not many people decorated. There were lots of kids and families running about though. Oh the fun we would have had. Next year we'll knock it out. Maybe we'll expand into a haunted house. At 8:00 exactly the city sirens went off and police lined the streets to announce the end of trick or treating. It was weird to say the least. Once again I say, Welcome to Kansas. Or maybe it's just Junction City. Who knows?

Play Safe, Play Smart