For the Love of a Pumpkin

Ladies, I have to carve a pumpkin for our front porch.  My son insists on it.  I have never done this before.  We bought a smallish sized pumpkin at the store, so as not to make this task too difficult.  My son named it Dave in the checkout line.  We’re not sure why.  And now I have to carve it… When we got to the cash register, he wasn’t even labeled.  “How much was this?” the cashier asked.  We shrug our shoulders… we have no idea.  He was in a pile of pumpkins by the front door.  No sign.  No sticker.  The poor thing.

What do I use?  A knife?  Scissors?  A chainsaw?  I have no clue.  But I feel a little sorry for this soon to be mangled pumpkin named Dave.  Maybe he should just sit outside whole and untouched.  But, then he would never light up.  No one would say, “Oh look at that cute Jack O’ Lantern!”  He would just be a vegetable… on a porch … of people who were too lazy to carve out their pumpkin. 

Do I really have to use my nice Wustoff knives?  But, I do.  I use my sharpest knives, a spoon and a sharpie… and some newspaper to catch the scraps.    

Ladies, let me tell you… with a Wustoff knife, a spoon, and a sharpie, you are unstoppable.

In fewer than 20 minutes this thing is scooped, carved, and lit up.  It is rather charming… and looks a little like a “Dave.”  In fact, since he has been lit up, he has been given a middle name… he’s now Dave Flynn.  He has a one toothed smile, but besides that looks rather happy.  We think we might want more Dave Flynns.  He might like company on that soon to be chilly porch.    

I guess, in a way we are all a little like pumpkins.  We need to be carved, carefully, and given a face, a candle and an identity to light up.  If we aren’t, we are just vegetables. 

But what makes the light turn on?  What carves that toothless smile? 

I think it has to do with what you do and how you feel about it.  If you are in a dead end job that is just making you crabby, find a way to get out of it.  No one there is going to carve you into what you want to be.  Do what you love.  Find your own sharpie and Wustoff.  And only do that.  If you don’t love it… what is the point? 

I heard this in an interview on Charlie Rose (an amazing show on PBS) and it struck a chord.  This guy quit a high powered, successful job because he didn’t love it.  Not only that… it took away from the things he loved…

The immediacy of the question, “How do I carve a pumpkin?” prompted the question, “How do I carve a life?”  And what kind of life do I want? 

I know that I don’t want to be a vegetable.  I want to be a “Dave Flynn.”