Halloween and Costumes

Our community is celebrating Halloween on the 30th this year. The religious folk complained that it was on a Sunday, now the non-religious folk are complaining that it's on a Saturday. I think if people in our community took the time to really understand what Halloween is and how it started, this wouldn't be an issue.

I won't get into it right now, though. Now that I'm grown, I enjoy Halloween just because I know the kids enjoy it. I love answering the door and trying to guess who's behind the masks. I'm either related to them or have taught them at one point so it's pretty hard to fool me but they try anyway.

As a child, Halloween was a day I dreaded. I didn't enjoy dressing up and I was uncomfortable not being able to see who people were. If I heard a knock on the door, I'd run into my bedroom until I was sure they were gone. Silly, really, considering that I always watched horror movies with my mother and was never afraid.

I think I was afraid of the costumes. When I was about 3 years old, my uncle (the same uncle who was in the hospital a few days ago) was in our 4th of July parade. He dressed as a hobo and thought it would be fun to carry me as he walked the parade route. I didn't recognize him, though, so screamed my head off until he gave me back to my mom. After that, I was afraid of anything with a covered face. We went to the circus in Seattle one time. Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey...The Greatest Show on Earth. I'll never know just how great it was because as a child I had the uncanny ability to put myself to sleep when I was scared. Everytime I saw a clown, I fell asleep.

I went Trick-or-Treating until I was in the 6th grade. That year I dressed as a clown, believe it or not. The next day I woke up covered in chicken pox. I know that Halloween had absolutely nothing to do with me getting the chicken pox, but that was my excuse to stop participating.