Hello Everyone,
Halloween is here! YEAH! Oh how I love Halloween. It’s that one holiday that allows me to be a child again, evoking memories of past Halloweens. I see myself at seven years old in my Tinker Bell costume. My face is hot and sweaty and I’ve only been to five houses so far. I try to breath through my plastic mask. My eyelashes keep getting caught in the eye slits and I can’t see in the dark. Finally giving up, I wear my mask on top of my head, the elastic band choking me under my chin. I keep it that way for the remainder of Trick or Treating. The glitter from my wings are itching me and I keep tripping over my costume. I’m having fun! I’m having fun! There’s my older brother and his friends all dressed as Grim Reapers, walking single file through the neighborhood. They walk slow, holding their sickles, one after the other. They aren’t Trick or Treating, just scaring the begeezus out of us. They are silently coming. “Get away from us,” we run screaming. It’s an exhausting night. Arriving home, I drop my pillowcase full of candy on the rug in the living room. I’m ecstatic. I have enough candy to last me through Thanksgiving. Halloween is over for another year. This is nostalgia at its best.
What are your memories of Halloween? I’ll bet you’ve got great stories to tell. It could be the start of a poem, a short story, or just a fun journal entry about a spooky experience. In “Bird.” I use my own memories to describe Ellen and Jenny’s Halloween, capturing those few moments of joy in their lives. My father’s advice to me, “write about what you know.” So I did.
Nostalgia is a wonderful tool writers use to evoke the past, usually of happy times. Let’s face it, it’s a sterilized version of our memories. But that’s okay. We need those. My takeaway for today, have some fun with your memories. Write about them or just share an oral story with your children or grandchildren. Last night I spent the evening decorating Halloween cookies, telling scary stories, carving pumpkins, and dancing to songs like The Monster Mash with my granddaughter, daughter-in-law, and my husband. We made memories. My takeaway for today, take time to be a child. In honor of Halloween, I’ve written an eerie little ghost story for you with bits of nostalgia, Grandpa’s Boots – Grandma’s Apron. It will appear in tomorrow’s post. Read it. IF YOU DARE!
Happy Halloween everybody. Be safe!
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