I have never had much of an affinity for Halloween. Perhaps as a child; but even then, the idea of dressing in costume to traipse through the neighborhood, door to door, essentially begging for candy from complete stranger . . . just always seemed a bit of a strange tradition to me.

It’s funny the things you tend to recall when wandering down memory lane. Random tidbits from decades ago suddenly rush to the forefront, crystal clear as if having taken place yesterday; yet, at the time, they served as mere footnotes in a life rushing forward, full speed ahead.

I used to despise Thursdays, if for no other reason than they seemed to consistently represent the culmination of a week’s worth of stress and aggravation hurtling toward the weekend and boiling over just short of that so-called sanctuary known as Friday.

Exactly one month ago, I began the next chapter of my career by turning the page on the last and moving forward in pursuit of a peace of mind and a quality of life that had been lacking for far longer than I cared to acknowledge.