Drive-By Trick-or-Treating: A Builder's Lesson in Presence

When my kids were little, Halloween in our neighborhood was quiet.

A few porch lights.

A few half-hearted decorations fluttering in the dark.

So we made up our own ritual

Drive-By Trick-or-Treating.

We'd pile into the car and wander through nearby neighborhoods,

searching for signs of spirit

houses glowing with intention,

where someone had clearly shown up for the night.

Back then, it felt like a small act of parenting ingenuity.

Now I see it differently.

We weren't just hunting for candy.

We were looking for presence.

That rare thing that turns an ordinary house into a beacon

That tells you someone cared enough to light the lanterns,

to welcome the wandering souls.

It's the same thing I look for on a jobsite.

Some projects are alive

You can feel the care and planning on every floor,

in every sign,

in every safety setup.

You can sense the craft, the energy, the care.

Others feel like the neighborhoods we once drove through

no movement, no direction,

The only sign of life was a lonely dumpster out front.

The Zen builder can sense the intent on a site alive with presence

like those houses glowing on Halloween night.

It's not the decoration that matters,

but the spirit behind it,

The quiet care that says, someone showed up.

Field Note:

Presence is the real light we offer the world.

Everything else, from the costumes to the masks and decorations, will fade.