It’s 5:20AM on All Saints Day. I’m at an airport.
I could be feeling sorry myself, but I’m feeling a pang for my beloved wife. I’m flying off to do a weekend of gigs. She is at home dealing with the kiddie hangover that is the morning after halloween. The 7 year old gets to work it off at school. M. gets the day with the 3.5 year old.
So I offer these words to all parents waking up with their over-excited children.
It’s not the sugar.
It’s not the sugar that’s making them restless. What’s making them restless is this-last night they ruled the world. They got to dress-up any way they wanted. They got to walk up to people’s houses and demand they be given candy. And they were given it.
It’s not the sugar.
Last night they had a taste of anarchy, the world tuned upside down. They overthrew the established order and the results were sweet.
Today, it’s back to the grind. Raising your hand and using your inside voice and the thousand other things we do to turn them into useful citizens.
That’s got to be a bummer.
I’d cut them a little slack.