Shooting the breeze - Oct. 8

Did y’all see that story on the front about the huge spider webs at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park? So creepy! I do not like spiders, no sir, not one bit. I appreciate that they serve a purpose and as such I try not to kill them unless they’re trying to shower with me or something, but c’mon. Those webs are ginormous.

The really crazy thing is how rare an occurrence a communal web is. These things made the national news when they showed up in Dallas and we’re lucky enough to have one right here nearby. If you haven’t made the trip out to see it, I highly recommend it. Get close enough and you can see little spiders busily spinning and feasting on the tiny bugs already caught in the mammoth web.

If nothing else, it’ll get your creepy-crawly fix in right before Halloween and if that’s not enough to set the mood, nothing will be.

Are you guys ready for Halloween? Hard to believe we’re already at that time in the year, right? The Gazette will be participating in the downtown trick-or-treating this year, so be sure to bring the kids out. It’s sure to be a fun night because the city has reported more businesses participating this year than ever before and more businesses means more candy!

I love Halloween and I love being scared. Not like ‘spider in the shower’ scared, more like ‘slightly apprehensive that the costumed Ghostface will come too close to me’ scared. Halloween is good old-fashioned fun. It’s playing dress up and getting free candy. I firmly believe anyone who tries to tie in ‘evil’ with that didn’t get to trick-or-treat enough as a child.

I think kids need to be able to express themselves as whatever they want to be. My daughter was Darth Vader with pigtails when she was 6. My son was Jason Voorhies when he was 9. They both tag-teamed a Mario and Luigi costume several years back. Whether it’s funny or scary or even gross, they need to know that they can be whatever they want to be. This is the one time a year that it’s totally acceptable.

I hope we never get to the point as a society that we insist on calling Halloween a ‘fall festival,’ or we ban scary costumes. Life is scary, folks. Look around or watch the news and you’ll see what I mean. Halloween is a time when children can get scared in a controlled environment. I’m not saying you should send your kids into a haunted house alone or let them trick-or-treat solo – I’m saying this is a great time to introduce scary things and reassure the kiddos that you’re there and even if things are scary, they’re still safe.

Halloween should be a fun time filled with squeals of terror followed by peals of laughter. Let’s bring the spooky fun back. Let’s all be kids again, even if just for one night.