Fall is one of the season I enjoy the most. It is a time of the year that we try to enjoy some of the traditional fall festivities, and this fall we are trying to do the same.

One of the activities was going to the farm to pick our pumpkin like we’ve done for several years. Not surprisingly, my older daughter decide to test my boundaries and said  “but Mommy, how are you going to be able to carve the pumpkin yourself?” I took my daughter’s comment as a challenge. I was determined to show her that I can carve a pumpkin.

Unfortunately, due to David’s health last October, we did not go to pumpkin picking. He was actually so determined to go but the logistic were challenging considering that he was experiencing a lot of pain. However, the year before, we all watched as he diligently carved the pumpkin. It was the first time I saw what pumpkin carving entailed and was completely surprised that the inside had to be gutted out and the seeds removed.

This weekend, I decided to prove to myself and my daughters that I could carve the pumpkin. I felt confident because David was a tool guy and even had a pumpkin carving tool that I found. Proudly I gutted the pumpkin, and my daughters joined in the excitement as they helped me hold the pumpkin to trace the pattern.

We were all excited with the final outcome, the jack-o-lantern pictured above. I followed the same pattern David used two years ago. My daughter said to me, you did it just like Daddy. This made my evening! I felt quite good carving the pumpkin since I felt a strong presence of David in form of encouragement that I could do it.