Lizzy's Secret Hooky Day

Lizzy typically works Tuesday nights at the factory but when she awoke on Tuesday morning and everything outside looked sparkly, crisp and like autumn had finally arrived, all she could think about was bundling up and getting outside and walking as far as she could. Lizzy loved the first cold day of the year and it only felt right to honor it ... She had plenty of nights that she could work, but only one night that she could walk on the very first chilly night of the year in South Florida.

She'd been waiting all summer for the Fallfest Memorial Strut ... It's not the fall she remembers as a kid, but each year when she puts on her pink coat with the orange buttons and the purple scarf and heads out into the night, it doesn't matter that there are no colorful leaves ... because in her mind the red and yellow and orange leaves are all right there ... swirling.

She know that not everyone sees the swirls, so she's cautious about who she struts with because as a longtime member of the Secret Society of Fallfest Memorial Strutters, she knows the importance of not strutting with people who can't see the swirls and witness the magical effect it has on people. But Lizzy's gotten quite good at determining who can and cannot see the swirls. Not that it's discussed. The first rule about the Swirl Club is that you don't talk about the Swirl Club. It's kinda like the fight club in that way. You just have to wait for a sign that they saw it too.

Lizzy recently recruited a new member of the Secret Society, and much as expected she got her sign ... It the big one. Literally minutes after all the strutting and swirling activities .... she looked up and saw The Great Pumpkin. I know that sounds just too impossible to be true ... but it happened, and if you don't believe it ... you probably have never seen the red, orange and yellow leaves swirling on the first cold night of the year in South Florida.

That's all I can say about that .. because the Secret Society does not permit in-depth discussion of activities surrounding the Fallfest Memorial Strut.

Lizzy is now hanging out in the ladies room at Ats A Pizza Italian Restaurant on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. She's waiting for a swirler to come and rescue her .... Meanwhile she's quite amused by the trick door. People keep coming in there and trying to close it so they can use the facilities ... but it doesn't close ... a trick spring. The management here has such a sense of humor .... It's very, very funny.