Asa here. Recently while watching the Halloween classic, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” I made a startling realization. Maybe the reason the Great Pumpkin is so elusive is because he’s shy and not blessed with a lot of confidence like those other holiday heavy hitters, namely Santa and the Easter Bunny. Clearly they have let their celebrity status go to their heads to the point that they hang out in malls with adoring fans lining up to take photos with them. Well it’s about time folks line up to take a photo with the Great Pumpkin, and he doesn’t even have to bribe me with presents or candy.
However, similar to the TV special where Charlie Brown is skeptical of Linus’ plan to meet his hero, Chuck Billy was also skeptical of mine. But I wasn’t about to let that stop me! I was going to get the most sincere selfie! But where to find the Great Pumpkin? I began my quest by visiting our local hardware store. After all, earlier this month Chuck Billy met all sorts of interesting characters hanging out there. Perhaps they knew where I could find this unsung hero of Halloween? But alas, all I could find were two scatterbrained scarecrows, who had no clue who I was talking about.
Next I headed to a local farm that was advertising pumpkins for sale. Could it be the Great Pumpkin was hiding in plain sight? No, definitely not. I hung out there for what seemed like an eternity while Mom picked the perfect pumpkin, but he never appeared. However, that errand did give me some insight into the Great Pumpkin’s mindset. Everyone there wanted the “perfect” pumpkin. No wonder he hides in the shadows, and only comes out on Halloween. Who can measure up to those high standards? I’d be insecure too! But trust me, Great Pumpkin, you have nothing to worry about. Santa is far from perfect with his belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly. As for the Easter Bunny, clearly he has a few issues as evident in why does he insists on hiding treats? And at least the Great Pumpkin doesn’t break into homes, like these two! So just be yourself, Great Pumpkin, and the world will embrace you.
When I was about to give up hope, that’s when I stumbled upon the perfect pumpkin patch. Not in a store. Not at a flashy farm stand. Just a good old fashioned field of pumpkins. To show we sincerely appreciated his role as the ambassador to Halloween, I even convinced Chuck Billy to dress up as a pumpkin and wait with me.
And sure enough, just like Linus predicted, the Great Pumpkin rose from the patch, and let us take a selfie with him! Oddly enough he seemed a bit two-dimensional than what I imagined. But who am I to judge?
