Trick or Treat Kisses

Dad’s body died on Halloween more than 25 years ago.  His spirit had been gone for a while.  On that day, I found it bittersweet and oddly comforting that he left us on All Hallow’s Eve, the time of year liturgically when we remember our dead. 

My brother and I were with him when he breathed his last.  As we sat vigil that morning after a very long week of waiting, Ron and I talked quietly about Halloween’s past.  He didn’t think that much was special about the day during his childhood, at least not until the pranks of his pre- and early teen years.  Our dad was a prankster and some of that rubbed off more on Ron than on me.  In dad’s time the tricks were overturned outhouses.  My brother’s, as I recall, most often had to do with buckets of water and a surprise drenching of his buddies. 

So much has changed since I was a young trick-or-treater.  It was probably 4^th grade before I had some say in what I was going to be for Halloween.  There were no specialty stores for  costumes and decorations.   There was no concern about the treat your neighbor put in your bag and no orange lights, big purple spiders, or garbage bag ghosts and pumpkins up and down the street.  And one big difference is that in Buffalo we celebrated Devil’s Night (October 30^th) so we had two nights of trick or treating.  The first night you learned where to return for the homemade caramel apples, popcorn balls, or the invitation inside the house for hot apple cider.

My first spin-the-bottle kiss was at a Halloween party in 7^th grade.  I was wearing my dad’s blue jeans and old flannel shirt, attempting to be a hobo.  Nearly 30 Halloweens later I lightly kissed my dad goodbye.  

Kids don’t trick or treat where I live or work, so I don’t have to stock up on treats.  But, if I did, it would be candy kisses.  If you haven’t purchased what you’ll be distributing to the princesses, robots, and pirates that ring your doorbell, perhaps that’s what you could buy on my behalf, and I hope you’ll smile each time you give away a Halloween trick or treat kiss.

Marilyn