Blasphemy and the Pumpkin Caper

Now I must admit, I am a master pumpkin carver. I have all the tools and gadgets for making the perfect pumpkins. My penchant runs deep. I remember being a pumpkin lover since I was young, when I spent hours sawing and scooping and carving and slicing. And my designs are never simple. So you can imagine my delight in finding a new battery powered pumpkin carving tool. I can't wait to try it out.

As a master carver, I have never really understood why people paint pumpkins. I've always thought it silly. That Jack is supposed to be a lantern, right? Can't put a candle glow inside a painted gourd!

But the other night, we put the vinyl cloth over the kitchen table and we all got down and dirty just painting those little baby pumpkins. I was twitching at the thought, and dying to just slice one of them open. But I watched the process, similar to carving, where each of us smirked and frowned as we tried to decide what to make of our pumpkin canvas.

My mother-in-law went micro scale and painted an intricate (and accurate!) little fence, a cat, a skeleton and a witch. The whole time, she was saying "I'm not creative. I don't know what to do." My wife hemmed and hawed for what seemed to be forever, stammering that she's not creative, before banging out a great looking cat. I jumped right in and started to paint a scarecrow head, which was coming along nicely until i realized yellow wouldn't show up to make the hair, so he ended up with black squiggly hair and looked like one of the Jackson Five -- maybe it was Tito.

But the girls, without any hesitation at all, jumped right in and started painting. Skylar painted a ghost and a witch on one, and then an elephant (!) on another. Fiona went a little Monet, smearing paint in all different colors, mixed with some pointillism and defined strokes as well. They were flawless masterpieces.

So what is it about being a child that makes you a quick and natural creator, while adults seem to hesitate, apologize for how stupidly uncreative we are, can't think of a thing to make, but then do something great that we downplay. What gives? Why do most adults admire creativity and creative people, but doubt their own ability as creators? Are we afraid it makes us seem eccentric? Childish? Why, for some, does creativity seem to equal vulnerability?

Maybe it's because creativity represents the unknown...something we can't explain and often we can't control. It's powerful and it can be overwhelming. But it's also a source of such pleasure, pride and accomplishment. Just watch a child when he or she is creating. Someone knitting a scarf or building a shelf. They're driven, focused, inspired, content. Yet most adults deny their power to create.

All I know is that we had some good fun getting creative. We laughed. We cheered each other on. We admired. We were happy.

But yes, one of us was still itching to bust out the double As and fire up the power carver.