Today, as I swept all the blood and guts off the floor of the gymnasium floor from our annual Halloween pep-rally, I couldn't help but feel elated that this years pep-rally didn't end in tears.

 Not my cheerleaders' tears, no, my own.

This time last year, after another losing season, a parent hopped over the rails of the gymnasium and screamed at me for not allowing her daughter to perform in the annual Halloween pep rally which is the first major event during Halloween.

Looking back on it now, I should have just taught her the eight counts she missed. Either way, can't take back my decision now and must live with the agony of tearing down construction paper witches and goblins in a high school gymnasium while big tears ran down my cheeks. Snot running down my nose.

This year, however, things played out differently; chain saws went off when chain saws were supposed to go off, Friday the 13th music played when Friday the 13th Music was supposed to play, body limbs flew when body limbs were supposed to fly. Yep, it was a beautifully orchestrated chaotic bloody mess. I feel accomplished.

So now that the pep rally is out of the way, I can focus on more pressing issues ... My Halloween costume.

This year I have decided to go as a contestant from my favorite childhood game show, Double Dare. You know the show, the one where two teams, a red and a blue team, compete against one another through various slimy, wet and sticky antics. Yes, that will be me running around downtown Dallas wearing a bike helmet with a Dixie Cup glued to the top.

 As I sit here super gluing the show logo to the front of a blue t-shirt ("red is for bitches," as my dearest friend told me when I was trying to pick a t-shirt color), I can't even remember the last time I did something fun? The last time I did something for myself that didn't involve work, networking or cheerleading.

Which thus forces me to think back to how I left Chicago and my reasonings to return to Slaton to begin with. Since I've returned though, it has been rush, rush, rush to get to that next phase in my life. However, now I am slowly forgetting what that even was? It's like when you rush into a room to get something and, for a brief moment, you forget why you went into that room to begin with.

Today, as the crowd hollered and my cheerleaders were so pleased with themselves for creating a memory that will last far longer than they even realize, I remembered what I too was seeking ... a sense of accomplishment. Even though it took the energy of 1,000 Slaton Independent School students stuffed into one tiny gymnasium to find that feeling again, I'm now beginning to remember why I returned.