A Halloween Mystery

On September 25th I wrote:

Clark’s Elioak Farm will have a pumpkin season and you all better behave yourselves and not mess this up, health-wise. Those pumpkin patch trips are often the bailiwick of grandparents and right now grandparents are at high risk so wear your masks, wash your hands, and leave lots of space between groups. Make an appointment in advance.

I would like one small pumpkin. You may leave it outside the house.

It didn’t happen. The pumpkin part, I mean. I didn’t truly expect that a reader would be moved to do pumpkin delivery. It was simply a light-hearted suggestion.

I had just about forgotten about the whole thing when we left the house on Halloween night to spend the evening at my older daughter and son-in-law’s house. There, on the chair by the front door, was one small pumpkin.

Kind of.

I was thrilled. Also mystified. Who could my kind-hearted benefactor be? Had they really responded to my blog post or was it merely a happy coincidence?

I brought the little guy along with me for the evening - - board games and take-out from Seasons 52 - - and he was certainly a big hit.

Later on, when we got home, I began to see posts on social media that clued me in to his provenance.

From the HoCo Rocks* page on Facebook:

Go big or go home!

Happy Halloween

Please come grab a #KindnessRock to share with someone who needs a boost! And check out The Kindness Rocks Project for more about sharing kindness.

The sign reads:

Kindness rocks. Please take two. One for you and one to pay kindness forward.

Many thanks to the person who picked up a rock and thought of me. And a tip of the hat to the folks at HoCo Rocks who went big with the Halloween spirit in a year when our usual celebrations are either impossible or greatly restricted.

I know we all have a lot of very big, very heavy things on our minds right now, and for good reason. I was grateful on Saturday night to have a moment of happiness. A smile. A warm feeling that someone had thought of me.

You, too, can pay kindness forward in our community. You can wear a mask and observe physical distancing. You can get a flu shot. You can vote. You can encourage others to vote. You can share from whatever you have to help those who are without. And if it all gets to be too much you might want to take a break and paint some rocks.

And share them.

* Photographs from HoCo Rocks. Used with permission.

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