The Best You Can Do Is Try to Be Someone Worthy of Loving

Happy Halloween! Here is a photo of some of my friends and I group-costume-ing last weekend for our church’s fall festival.

We’re dressed as characters from Gravity Falls, a truly excellent two-season cartoon that I would insist you watch immediately if it hadn’t just been yanked off of Hulu to presumably resurface on Disney+ later. (But I got Kyle the DVDs for his birthday recently, so you can come over and watch it with us!)

I don’t really have any deep thoughts to share about Halloween or why we enjoy so much getting to dress as characters that resonate with us, but I do have some feelings about group costumes!

For example: it feels like a special thing to have a group of people I love and whose company I enjoy enough to (very lightly!) pressure them into participating in a group costume. This particular group is our church band, and all put an enormous amount of (volunteer) work into preparing an hour-long Halloween set. Which went very well! This is actually not all of us; we’re down a couple of drummers, a singer, and various sound and media techs. It’s a great group to be a part of.

I find myself part of a lot of great groups. The church band, but also: a deep-thinking small group that constantly challenges and encourages me. A writing group of the most amazing, intelligent, loving women (plus one amazing, intelligent, loving TJ!). Former coworkers who make me laugh harder than anyone and still group-text me whenever there’s Taylor Swift news. Friend groups that started in Harry Potter fandom and have become some of the spaces in which I feel the most safe and seen.  

It may surprise you to learn that I have a lot of feelings and am pretty extroverted. I have a lot to share. I badly want to be seen. Hence the numerous failed attempts at blogging. I feel very lucky to be part of these groups and others; I feel very lucky to have the people I do in my life. I love you all.

Sappy Halloween post!!! (The title of this post is a quote from the finale of Gravity Falls. If you like emotions and friend groups/found families and also Halloween vibes, you should watch Gravity Falls. At my house, I guess. Gravity Falls DVD-watching group!!!)