Halloween 2021

As we walked house to house for Halloween, I couldn’t help but think about how grateful I am to be living in a neighborhood that I could take the kids trick-or-treating in. I always dreamt of this.

Growing up, my parents drove us to other neighborhoods for us to trick-or-treat in. My dad would trail us in the car while we walked excitedly, filling our buckets full of candy. It was the most candy I would ever see in a year, all at once. And the houses that gave us full candy bars…I always dreamt that one day I could do that too. It’s funny the things you dream of when you are poor. It might be small for others, but for you, it’s the small things that you notice the most.

I recall one house when we went to when we were younger. The driveway was not long, but just long enough, and their front yard was decked-out in Halloween. I’m talking tombstones, cobwebs on the trees, skeletons everywhere. As my brothers and I walked up to the door, the figure that stood to the side jumped at us. We had thought it was just part of the decorations. I remember screaming my lungs out and being so scared. It was just THAT GOOD.

I don’t remember being cold or tired. I just remember filling up my bucket, and being with my brothers. All of them. Until we got too old. Oh, I miss those years. And as I walk with my children this Halloween, I think back about how happy it must have been to my parents to watch us be so happy. My children’s excitement and laughter as they see the decorations, and as they get their favorite candies warms my heart.

As their buckets got more and more full, the end of Halloween 2021 was slowly ending. Next year, they would be just a little bigger, and it’ll feel a little different. But this year, it was perfect. Their excitement and gratefulness. Their being okay with their buckets filling up and keeping just what they could fill. Their multiple ringing of the doorbell, and my reminding them that only one ring was enough. Their looking in awe at all the decorations. Their cute little costumes, and their cute little “Trick-or-Treat.” Their happiness over the simplicity of a holiday that does more than it knows. I am ever so grateful that this year, we could go trick-or-treating. I am ever so grateful for this time to remind me to slow down, and enjoy my children.