Halloween Memories

I love Halloween. I always have. I don't know if it is the crisp fall air, the chance of escaping to be someone or something else for just one night or the allure of all that FREE heavenly chocolate, but Halloween evokes great memories for me. Memories of visiting spookalleys put on by the mutual where you stick your hands in spaghetti (supposed intestines) and peeled grapes (supposed eyeballs) and all the time thinking in my little brain, "Who did they get intestines and eyeballs from?" Others include canvasing all the subdivisions in upper West Point as fast as we could to fill our pillowcases before people turned out their porch lights. Then there were spooky dinners by candlelight where my mom had created a menu of all things ghoulish to eat, like "Swamp Slime, Skeleton Bones & Bat Wings". Never did green jello, french fries, and chicken wings taste so good! But the best memory was created by my sweet husband. While we were dating I worked as a Home Health Aide. I traveled around to my patients homes and helped them with activities of daily living that they were unable to do themselves. This particular night he went with me and waited in the car while I was in my patients homes working. It was nice to have the company, although I'm sure he was bored to death sitting alone in a car for a good part of 5 hours! I finished with work and we headed towards home. You have to know I am a product of tradition, and the tradition in the Huff house while I was growing up was to go to the Kiddie Kollege Pumpkin Walk on Halloween. Hundreds of pumpkins carved and decorated all differently was always a highlight of my Halloween. Richard informed me that before we could go to the pumpkin walk, we needed to stop at his sister Susie's house to see all the kids in their costumes. I was fine with that, all though I was antsy because it was getting late. We started to approach his sister's house and the lights are on and activity going on in the house. Richard started squirming in his seat and told me not to stop, and then made up some silly fib about wanting a drink or something. So he had me drive past the house down the street to a convenience store where he gets out and makes a phone call! Well by now, I am getting very annoyed! The pumpkin walk was going to end and who is he calling when he is supposed to be buying a drink!? He got back in and told me to drive back to Susie's house. Being annoyed I gave him the silent treatment and drove back to her house. I can see as we are approaching her house that it is dark and looks like no one is home! Now, I am MAD! How are we supposed to see kids in their costumes if they aren't there and they were there just 10 minutes earlier when he made me drive past!?! He had me get out & told me "let's just go and see". Well I'm sure you all saw something coming 10 sentences ago, but at this point I was still clueless. We entered the house to spooky sounds playing and candles flickering I followed them down to the family room that had been turned into a graveyard complete with real leaves crunching underfoot, gravestones with our names on them, skeletons,-the works! He had worked most of the day decorating & getting everything ready for a special Halloween picnic for two in a graveyard. Wow, did I feel really foolish for being mad. He explained to me that Susie's family was supposed to be gone by the time we drove by the first time, but weren't so he had made up the excuse to go to the store to call and tell them to leave. He said he was sorry, and that we could leave and go to the pumpkin walk if I still wanted too. Needless to say, I declined, and stayed to enjoy my Subway Club sitting in my own burial plot next to Richard in his burial plot enjoying the spooky sounds of a perfect night. Maybe it is okay for traditions to be broken.