A Blank Slate

Tonight I am faced with a blank slate, a white canvas, if you will. It is that time of year again, a time for introspection, reflection, and the chance to make something out of nothing. No, I'm not speaking of the start of a new decade in one's life (although that day is NOT very far away, I'm scared to say), but that hallowed of all holidays: Halloween. Sparkle picked up a couple pumpkins at the store this afternoon and even did the dirty job of cleaning them out. Now, my job is to carve something out of the orange flesh. What to do? A portrait of my cat (she's the perfect scary Halloween black cat, you know)? Perhaps a birthday cake with 30 candles (now THAT would be a lot of work)? No, I think this year it will have to be the symbol that I'll be thinking about for the next 11 months:



When I'm done I'll try to post a picture of the masterpiece. Anyways, the blank slate of the pumpkin is really a metaphor for my life right now. In less than 2 weeks, I'll be entering a new decade of life. For those of you really good with math, you'll appreciate the fact that although I'll be turning only 30, I'll be entering the 4 decade of my life. On my run with Roehr yesterday, I decided that is another reason why undertaking this adventure in the upcoming year is a good thing. When I was 26, I ran my first 26.2 mile race. I'm funny like that; I like to do challenging things in landmark years. I can only wonder what I'll be doing in the decades that follow!