It was certainly one of her favorite holidays even if more people didn’t really consider it a holiday at all.
Mary smiled as she twirled around in her ‘costume.’
No one had to know that she’d made it to look exactly like what her sister had worn during the War.
It had taken them all afternoon to build the dummy. Her arms were tired and scratchy from stuffing pine straw inside the old jeans and button up shirt.
But it was worth it.
The dummy sat upright in a rocking chair on the front porch. The feetless jeans were shoved into a pair of cowboy boots, the handless arms tucked into a pair of workman’s gloves. And an old cowboy hat, hung from a piece of fishing line, hovered just over where a head would be.
Running back inside to drop off her tools (a rake and a pair of scissors), she grabbed the big bowl of candy and headed for the porch to join her straw man companion.
On the porch, the once occupied rocking chair sat empty, slowly creaking back and forth as though someone had just pushed out of it.
What happens next?
She noticed the trail of straw that started not at the chair, where she thought it would, but instead several feet out off of the porch.
Almost as if someone had tried cleaning up after themselves but heard her coming and run before they could finish.
“All right, you kids!” she hollered, holding the bowl of candy out as if in a peace offering, “Bring back my scarecrow and I’ll cough up the sweets!”
“No!” a tiny voice screeched, “He’s ours and we’re keeping him!”
And my brain wondered off and forgot about this until the last moment. This tiny post was brought to you by the 1st Wednesday prompt from Chaotically Yours.
Cookies are something that I have always loved making and one of the first things I learned how to make successfully before I hit the double digits. Made cookies with my parents and every sibling I have along with my grandfather. Making cookies from scratch is easier than figuring out how to make cheese sauce from those little packets in Mac ‘n’ Cheese.
My eldest niece convinced me to make some sugar cookies so she and her brothers could frost them with the leftover frosting from another project they did with their mom and another aunt.
My mom comes into the kitchen.
“Why are you making Valentine’s Day and Halloween themed cookies?”
Oops.
Well, we’re in countdown people. The wedding will take place in exactly nine days.
That’s less than one and a half weeks.
She’s going to be married to someone she used to chase around with a stick, but he chased right back once he found a bigger stick. They’d go back and forth like that for a while.
Her best friend since 2nd grade threw the bridal shower. It was Halloween themed and was probably the coolest bridal shower I’ve ever attended. Keep in mind that the last bridal shower I attended I was something like 14 years old and still thought that they were boring. I think the best part of the shower was seeing how happy my sister was.
Life hasn’t always been kind to her, but I think it finally took a good long hard look at her and decided that she deserved better as long as she was willing to take the chance on him. It’s pretty much the same for him. They both took a risk on one another and I don’t think I’ve ever seen them happier.
I think that old saying is right.
You should marry someone who you love, but also someone who can become your best friend.
Breathing In 