Happy Halloween Everyone!
Tis a perfect day for tricks and treats. Warm and cloudy, dry autumn leaves swirling, a soft rain creating the scent of petrichor. It immediately conjures of memories of Halloween’s past. If you were a Boomer or a Gen Xer, our costumes came in rectangle boxes with clear plastic, the mask peering out of the top. We couldn’t wait to open the box, take out the mask, and reach in to see the colorful costume made of vivid colors, etched in garment glitter that made our neck and sleeves itch. Costume characters were pretty basic. You might be a clown, witch, duck, skeleton, devil, queen, king, princess, or Tinker Bell. Our masks made night time travel difficult, eyelashes continuously caught in the eye holes and our faces would sweat! We’d eventually give up on the mask and shove it on the top of our head like a hat, the elastic band digging into the bottom of our chin. We didn’t have cute Halloween sacks to gather are treasures, but a pillow case that half the time we’d trip over, dragging it through the yards. We traveled in groups, the same friends year after year. There were no cell phones, no parents telling us what time to be home. We’d cover blocks and blocks, aware of the houses with the best candy, and the houses that you knew to stay away from. Candy was real, like Slo Pokes, Sugar Daddies and Bazooka Bubble Gum. The sugar content, off the charts and led to our big beautiful silver tooth fillings. Then eventually, when the candles in the pumpkins burned out, and porch lights turned off, we’d drag our tired bodies home. But we always had just enough energy to sit crossed legged on the living room floor, dump our sweet load in front of us and categorize are stash. Sometimes swapping for individual favorites.
Halloween in our generation was thought to be better than Christmas. It was a simpler time. A time when all we had was our imaginations and the excitement of being with your friends. Dressing up and playing make believe was magical. It is with great hope that today’s little trick or treaters will look back with fond memories of Halloween too. Their Halloween experiences may be different than ours, but for sure will be just as memorable.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!
