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October 31 has become a valuable annual ritual for me. For the last several years, my Halloween and Samhain tradition has centered on giving tribute to the memory of my favorite ghost, Yale Weiner.

My annual attempts at proper tribute have taken many forms, none of them too impressive. What has emerged from the process, however, has been both therapeutic and instructive - - producing in some respects a four-year inventory of my life.

Without that historical record, perhaps I would not have noticed how different - - and better - - things looked when I took stock this year.

Some recent changes are small. This Halloween, for example, for the first time in years, I actually celebrated on the town - - with other people, outside my apartment, in costume and all - - and as a result (also for the first time in years) I finally, actually had a fun Halloween.

Other recent changes are more monumental. Most notably, this week, I finally re-entered a different world I had abandoned four years ago: the 9-to-5 (or 8, or 9) work-world. Having stumbled into an opportunity of a lifetime - - a great VP position at a sensational company, I rejoined the ranks of full-time office-based employees ... a move towards convention that, oddly enough, feels even more right than the move away felt four years back.

Two small pieces of a much larger picture, in play and in work, a pattern was emerging. Like a long-awaited arrival at a former destination that finally feels right again, it feels like evolution.

And it is well-timed.

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thanks, Top25.org

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today