Category: Conroe Courier

There’s a whole lot going on in the next week or so in our little corner of the world, not the least of which is that long-awaited ritual known as early voting.  It begins tomorrow, the 21st, and continues through November 1st for those who choose not to wait until “election day” which is the following Tuesday, the 5th.   Registered voters (and that’s all of you, right?) can cast early ballots at any one of ten voting centers scattered around the county.  
For Bentwater residents, the most convenient (or at least the closest to home) location for you will be at the Lone Star Community Center at 2500 Lone Star Parkway in Montgomery.  As it happens, that’s also where you’ll need to be if you plan to vote on election day. Later in this week, on Thursday, the 24th, your newly elected POA board (another election altogether so it’s too late for you to vote early in this one) will hold its first quarterly meeting of the 2024-2025 fiscal year in the Harbor Room of the Yacht Club starting at 7 PM.  While it probably shouldn’t be considered as a ritual per se, it kinda is because you can always count on it happening.  And, you owe it to yourself to invest an hour or so to say “hey” to all the members and get the official scoop about the goings-on in your neighborhood.  Meanwhile, though Halloween might not be nearly as scary as some elections these days, it somewhat frightening to realize that it has morphed through several iterations over the centuries.  It’s certainly become a ritual of sorts, though not even close to resembling the original ritual.  But, that’s okay because, in today’s version, it’s all about fun.  So, get ready.  Here it comes again.  
Though the official date in North America is the 31st, for your enjoyment and convenience Bentwater has set aside the prior Saturday, the 26th, to accommodate a couple of Halloween events in different areas of the community.  From 5-8 PM, the annual Trunk or Treat event hosted by the POA and funded, in part, by the Bentwater Civic Association will be going on in the Park In The Meadows (that’s the one with the pond and pavilion).  In addition, Young Families of Bentwater will be hosting their Halloween Festival in the Community Park (that’s the one behind the POA offices), also from 5-8 PM, featuring activities and entertainment for all ages.  Best of all, unlike the voting booth where you’re required to pick one or the other, there’s no either/or here.  Nope, you can elect to celebrate at both and you’ll have plenty of time to do so.  You won’t even have to rush since there’ll be a full 3 hours of spooktacular revelry going on.  So, be safe.  Go and enjoy, and have a Happy Halloween, y’all.
Send Bentwater news and fun tidbits to Bruce@TheLakeConroeGroup.com

You all know Bobby McFerrin, right?  Of course you do.  Can’t quite place the face?  I know, that can happen to some of us when our odometer reaches a certain point.  But, even if you don’t recognize the name or the face, I bet you’d recognize his words.  Don’t worry, be happy.  If you’ll close your eyes for a moment and say those words to yourself, you’ll probably even begin to hear the melody.  That calypso beat.  The good vibes.  And good advice to live by.  Don’t worry, be happy.  That may be hard to even consider if you have family or friends in Florida right now so, if you do, you get a special dispensation.  Go ahead and worry, and we’ll worry right along with you.  Otherwise, we should all be happy.  I know, I know.  Life’s full of worry-worthy events whether close by or elsewhere on the globe.  
But, if we’d choose to exercise our power to ignore all those things not worth worrying about (and that’s most things), life’s also full of blessings.  Big blessings.  Small blessings.  Plentiful blessings.  They’re everywhere we look.  That said, we do have to actually do the looking, because no one’s gonna look for us.  Nope, we have to pay attention.  That’s why I’d like to draw your attention to the next Mix ‘n’ Mingle happening in a couple of days.  After all, one of the greatest blessings any of us has is our friends.  Yet, for some unexplainable reason, we humans can sometimes get tunnel vision and, once our core group of friends here in Bentwater gets to be a certain size, we tend to stop paying attention to who else is around us.  Why is that do you suppose?  I mean, there is no maximum quota of friends we’re allowed to have, is there?  
Yet despite having lots of neighbors who we happily wave to occasionally and many neighbors that we might consider to be more than just casual acquaintances, those neighbors with whom we most often congregate and socialize and cultivate deep friendships tend to comprise a relatively small group by comparison.  Good news!  The Mix ‘n’ Mingle from 4-7 in the Crescent Grill on Tuesday the 15th is your perfect opportunity to make some new friends.  Now, if you’re one of those introverts who gets a little shy when meeting new folks, don’t worry.  Be happy, because you can shed your shyness by becoming someone else.  Just come in disguise.  Seriously, this month’s theme is Halloween for adults and you can come dressed as anything or anyone you like.  Lots of folks will very cleverly dress as serial killers.  After all, if you’ve ever watched any of those documentaries, you know that all serial killers look normal.  So, you can just wear whatever you wear any other day.  The crowd will typically be a 50/50 mix of folks who’ve moved to Bentwater in recent months and folks who’ve lived here since before all the streets were paved.  Regardless, my challenge to you is this.  Come and say hello to someone you’ve never met.  No trick questions or comments.  Just engage.  Choose to make at least one new friend, and be happy.  That’ll be your Halloween treat. 
Send Bentwater news and fun tidbits to Bruce@TheLakeConroeGroup.com