Pumpkins: Or, reasons to be happy, take one.

I came home from work today to find two pumpkins sitting on my doorstep. I live in a condo complex and share a stoop with my next-door neighbors, so I figured they were my neighbors' pumpkins. But they were right in front of my door. Seriously, WTF.

As I'm walking up the stairs, kinda ticked off and wondering if I can move the pumpkins over to the other side of the stoop without my neighbors noticing, I realize there is a little note card stuck in my screen door.

Interesting.

Perhaps, I imagine as I grab the note from the door, the pumpkins are from my ex. He knows I love to carve pumpkins for Halloween, and I haven’t been speaking to him so maybe he’s trying to make nice. Nothing says "Sorry I dumped you and starting dating your friend of 25 years two weeks after we broke up" quite like a heartfelt gift of fat orange gourds, right? Although to be honest I'd prefer it if he gave me the stuff of mine he still has (i.e. trekking poles, guitar, hair dryer) instead.

I grab the card and go inside. I tear open the envelope, and the note says:

Dear Pumpkin-carving Lady,
These pumpkins appear worthy of your talents! Whatever you do with them, it will never be cat-astrophic.

Sincerely,
Neighbor

This note makes me laugh out loud.

Every year at Halloween, I carve a pumpkin. Two years ago, when I first moved into my condo, I carved a jack-o-lantern of a cat silhouetted against a moon. A few days after Halloween, one of my neighbors, an older gentleman, knocked on my door to compliment me on my mad pumpkin carving skills. Last year I again carved what was supposed to be a cat silhouetted against a moon, but it ended up looking like a squirrel sitting on a tree branch. (I made the tail a little fluffy).

To tell the truth, it really made me happy to get some pumpkins on my doorstep. It was completely unexpected and it made me smile. It’s not every day you come home to random pumpkins. Now I just have to figure out what to carve.

Perhaps something like this? I think I've had enough of cats.