To BOO or Not To BOO

Wondering what to do for Halloween this year? Hey, me too! For the past five years my All Hallows holiday has been done G-rating style suitable for my preschoolers. Well, this year, the kids are going out of town so I feel lost in trying to plan for the night's activities. I'm no longer sure how to act like a single adult woman with endless possibilities. My newly single status adds a whole different BOO-factor to Halloween and the months to come. For the first time in a long time, I'll be tackling the holidays alone.

For the past five years I have holiday-shared with another person. It's been a Wes Craven-worthy nightmare trying to decide which set of in-laws to piss off on Thanksgiving. (Just joking Susan, sort of.) My husband and I had a system down, Thanksgiving in NC and Christmas in Nashville and the next year we would flip flop. It usually worked out OK, but it never failed that one of us was always homesick for our families. A lot of fights were spawned because of it. The upside to holiday-sharing is that you never have to worry about a date to a party. You always have the James Dean to your Marilyn Monroe, the Pilgrim to your indian, and the Santa to your Mrs. Clause. I'm realizing how very different this year is going to be.

Now that I'm a widow I'll be spending my first festive season single. I didn't realize how much this would affect me until now that my kids are going out of town and I will be alone for Halloween. We had our night all planned out to trick-or-treat at Johnny and Ashley's. The kids would consume candy, Ashley and I would consume Bergman and the night would end in sugar-high, wine-buzz bliss. So with the turn of events, I am faced with options. I could stick to the plan and have a most enjoyable time with one of my favorite families or I could venture out on a limb and join other ranks of my peers to dress up and pretend that we are 21 again. I do believe that my dear Ashley would never hold it against me if I do in fact choose 2nd Avenue over Old Hickory. She's a mom therefore she understands. :-)

Somewhere deep inside of me is a single party-girl that is simply dying to go out. Party girl wants nothing more than to dress up as a mildly inappropriate super hero, complete with cape, fishnet stockings and knee high super boots. For one night I want to wage a war on the dwindling social lives of single moms everywhere and take Nashville by storm.

There's only one kryptonite that might stop me.

I have no friends.

OK, I know that is a drastically unfair statement. I have PLENTY of friends who are probably very pissed off at me for even hinting that I am a loner. So, to be a little more specific, I don't have many unattached, party goers in my circle anymore. Being that I am a single mom I always seem to be either one body short with my "family" friends or two too many with my single friends. Don't get me wrong, I have the GREATEST of all friends on the planet and none of them ever make me feel left out or out of place, so I hope I'm not hurting anyone's feelings who may be reading this. I love you all. But it's a simple fact that most of my gang will be chaperoning little Princesses and Pirates around to neighbors while I am dreaming of Batman buying me something fruity and dragging me out onto the dancefloor. My other friends, the ones without kids, will be playing dress up with their significant others or flying home from changing the world in Peru or just avoiding the party scene because that's not their style.

So what is Party Girl to do? I'm open to suggestion. I do have one party that I will be attending regardless of whether I make it anywhere else or not. I'm playing with the idea of getting all dressed up and finding new friends for the night, which is a high possibility of what I will, in fact, do. Or I might just play it safe and get silly with Ashley, which is NEVER a bad idea.

However, attention Tennesseans… what's going down in Nashvegas this year???

And who should I be?