Okay...here's the thing. You don't get to be know-it-all-hauty-and-arrogant about your "convictions" to not celebrate Halloween because of its pagan origins and also put up a Christmas tree, hide Easter eggs, wish on a four-leaf clover, wear green on St. Pat's Day, have Santa pictures at the mall, sing O Christmas tree and on-and-on.
We had a great Halloween with trick-or-treating and a deliciously naughty candy eating festival afterward. I took many pictures and already treasure them. I have a photo of me as a child dressed as Minnie Mouse and I love to look at it. I strain to remember that time and it is foggy at best. I remember odd things like the feel of the plastic vest and standing in the old Wal-Mart next to racks and racks of plastic mask and vest combinations. I do not remember walking up to neighbor's doors or what I dressed as each Halloween. But I remember loving it. I remember the anticipation and erupting excitement as the sun set on our little town. It was exhilirating to dart about in the night air. I must have been a million miles away in the vivid dreams of my make-believe mind. And how fantastic was the tall Jack O'Lantern bucket of candy, poured out in a mound on the floor. I can see myself at eight, just looking at it all, in pure amazement that I had collected such a loot.
Last night we took Row to trick-or-treat and it was glorious. Cool night breeze and excited voices floating about. Ghastly ghosts and wicked witches dotted on the porches and sidewalks of a perfectly manicured neighborhood. Rowan marched like a trooper on a mission. He was determined...not for candy, but for adventure and solitary discovery. I see myself in him...wandering off, lost in a world only known to him. He enjoys being around the other children and activity, but would prefer to map out his own course. He would not like a hand to hold or a way to follow, just the accompaniment of mom or dad following somewhere close and not necessarily in his line of vision.
I breathed deeply and thought, this is the American Dream. It is not the homes, the cars, the status, the clothes or the diamonds. It is our son walking down a dark, quiet road and us trailing casually behind him...carefree and completely fulfilled.
We had a great Halloween with trick-or-treating and a deliciously naughty candy eating festival afterward. I took many pictures and already treasure them. I have a photo of me as a child dressed as Minnie Mouse and I love to look at it. I strain to remember that time and it is foggy at best. I remember odd things like the feel of the plastic vest and standing in the old Wal-Mart next to racks and racks of plastic mask and vest combinations. I do not remember walking up to neighbor's doors or what I dressed as each Halloween. But I remember loving it. I remember the anticipation and erupting excitement as the sun set on our little town. It was exhilirating to dart about in the night air. I must have been a million miles away in the vivid dreams of my make-believe mind. And how fantastic was the tall Jack O'Lantern bucket of candy, poured out in a mound on the floor. I can see myself at eight, just looking at it all, in pure amazement that I had collected such a loot.
Last night we took Row to trick-or-treat and it was glorious. Cool night breeze and excited voices floating about. Ghastly ghosts and wicked witches dotted on the porches and sidewalks of a perfectly manicured neighborhood. Rowan marched like a trooper on a mission. He was determined...not for candy, but for adventure and solitary discovery. I see myself in him...wandering off, lost in a world only known to him. He enjoys being around the other children and activity, but would prefer to map out his own course. He would not like a hand to hold or a way to follow, just the accompaniment of mom or dad following somewhere close and not necessarily in his line of vision.
I breathed deeply and thought, this is the American Dream. It is not the homes, the cars, the status, the clothes or the diamonds. It is our son walking down a dark, quiet road and us trailing casually behind him...carefree and completely fulfilled.
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