I don't have any pictures of myself in any Halloween costumes before my family stopped celebrating the holiday in 1985. I was 11, but it wasn't because I was too old. It was because the church we started attending that fall was against it (as well as celebrating birthdays and Christmas). Most 11 year olds don't know or use words like pagan and worldly. I used them expertly, and sadly. You would think that a group of folks who claimed Jesus as Lord would be excited about an opportunity to connect with the community in a fun way. I understand not wanting to dress your kid up as a serial killer or bloody monster, but look at Serena and Cairo in this picture! Could they be more cute? But I digress . . .
Dishon, Serena, Cairo and I have been living in the suburbs since the kids were just about three and four years old. Before that, we lived in a very suburban section of Boston (West Roxbury), so taking the kids Trick or Treating was always easy. Typically one of us would stay home to give out candy while the other took the kids out. A few years ago, the kids started going Trick or Treating with friends, so now we just gave out candy. Sadly, our block doesn't get a lot of traffic on Halloween anymore. The kids who do come get a ton of candy, and we still usually have a bunch left over.
I would imagine that Trick or Treating was challenging for my parents when I was a kid, since we lived in a pretty large apartment building, especially with the warnings to be careful about what Halloween treats to let kids eat after Trick or Treating. I wonder if it was even true that people were putting razors in candy and caramel apples, or if that was actually the beginnings of fake news/urban legends?
There are only a couple of Halloweens I remember before my family stopped celebrating. I think I was Wonder Woman one year (I could be mistaking a costume for the Wonder Woman Underoos I had, though 😂). The other memory is this one year that always kind of baffled me. Let me first say that I think my mom and sister did an extraordinary job dressing me so creatively for a Halloween party. I think I was around 9 or 10, and they made me a beautiful dress out of material that reminds me of the night sky in Texas - dark and twinkling with stars. I also remember them straightening a hanger, bending it into a u-shape and then pinning my hair around the hanger. I think I was dressed as an alien.
The part that confuses me is that the party was in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. My grandmother (dad's mom) lived near the hall, and my family lived in the Flatbush section. These neighborhoods are not close, and we didn't have a car. I don't remember being dressed like that on public transportation, so we must have gone in a cab. We didn't go to my grandmother's apartment, which surprised me because it was so close to where she lived. We went straight to this party, and my family dropped me off there. I didn't know anyone at the party, so I remember feeling really lonely. I'm a pretty strong introvert, so going up to strangers and making small talk makes me ache. I tried to make the best of it and entertain myself, but as I was running, I tripped and fell, all sprawled out on the ground with my glittery dress and alien hair. Not cute. Not at all. I wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear. Instead, I just got up and waited until someone came to get me. That's all I remember.
When I'm writing my novel, I need to think about what role holidays will play, and any funky scenarios I can embed. Will they celebrate . . . not celebrate? If they celebrate, how will it be? If not, why not? As I'm writing this, how cool would it be for Subria, Shiloh and Primus to go Trick or Treating together as little kids? Hmm . . .
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