For Agape & Friends' 10th Halloween, I sent partygoers through a candy-coated labyrinth to help find the missing theme.

Upon arrival, guests were given a map with 10 mysterious locations and an unfinished bracelet, then instructed to find clues at each of the locations that would help them in solving the mystery. If they were able to find all 10 clues by the time they made it to the "end of the rainbow," they would have figured out the theme (and finished their bracelet).

What wasn't immediately obvious, however, was that the Candyland world they found themselves in was simply an entry point to exploring a much darker theme, and each of the 10 spots on the map was designed to represent a feeling of grief I've experienced in the weeks after my brother's death:

  • Ginger Plum Tree Forest: shock
    Ice Cream Sea = isolation

  • Peppermint Forest: keeping up appearances

  • Rainbow Trail: avoidance

  • Gumdrop Mountains: depression

  • Molasses Swamp: confusion

  • Peanut Brittle tea house: comfort

  • Lollipop Woods: stuckness

  • Licorice Castle: rage

  • Candy Castle: joy

This year has been especially tough on all of us and grief has crept into each of our lives in its own way. Whether you participated in the hunt for the theme or simply joined for a night of celebration at Agape, I hope that you were able to feel something.

I'm so grateful to my housemates for showing up so fully and sharing their gifts with all the lovely humans who filled our halls, as well as to the talented humans in the wider community who helped bring these 10 unique worlds and feelings to life.