I had a great Halloween with my boys. They invited me to their school for their class(es) Halloween parties. Thank goodness their classrooms are side by side, I only had to run a few feet to make sure I was present at both throughout the hour and half festivities.
I planned to take them with me to campus to drop off my honor society application, which I finally completed as well as all of my hours of community service so there’s no reason for them not to let me in. The induction is in December. When we got to campus, I opened the door leading to the Education building and a group of ladies all smiled at us and squealed, “They’re here!” They started clapping and taking pictures.
We all froze as they walked over to my sons and placed candy in their bags.
Ohh…There must be some sort of Halloween event going on today. As we walked away my boys were still confused. “Mama, who were those ladies? How do they know us?”
I laughed and laughed and then paused as I began thinking about how the little boy Elian Gonzalez must feel everytime he goes somewhere. Being so young and so famous, he couldn’t possibly understand why people cheer everytime he enters a room. Hopefully now he does.
After turning in my application, my boys and I learned that their were trick or treat stations all over campus, about 15 of them as well as a great Haunted House designed in one of the dorms with actors and everything. We checked out the haunted house and because there were so many screams coming from within the walls, my older son said, “I do not like scary stuff and I do not want to go in there.”
Who am I to force a kid to have fun? “Ok,” I told him. “I have to respect that.”
My 6 year old and I left him right outside with a bunch of people I recognized from the radio station and we went in. It was dark, there were cobwebs everywhere, we were bumping into things and the guide who was with us kept yelling out, “These are KIDS! LITTLE KIDS! Keep it simple!”
Dead bodies were on the floor dripping with blood. Zombies were hanging from the ceiling. Alien hands were appearing from behind doors, all the while scary music played in the background and every kid in our group was crying, including my son. We didn’t get to see every room in the Haunted House because it was too much. After we exited we went to meet my older son and he asked us all about what happened. He seemed curious but after about 10 minutes of explaining he still seemed scared so i said, “It’s not that big of a deal, we still have more trick or treating to do. Let’s go.”
We tricked and treated until our legs were tired, me in my doctors outfit and my sons wearing their alien and ninja costumes. My sons candy bags were heavier than a 5 pound bag of sugar by the time we left. It was a most excellent event and I have to find out who organized it because they are going to get a thank you letter from me.
After going to campus, we didn’t have to go trick or treating through the neighborhood anymore. We went to my Mama’s house so she could see them in their costumes and I took a nap since my boys had woke me up at 5am that morning because they were so excited about wearing their costumes to school.
“Is it Halloween yet?” My 8 year old asked at 5am after waking up every hour to check the clock.
When my 6 year old woke up, he grabbed me close and kissed my face. “Jesus woke me up,” he said.
“Oh yeah? What did he say?”
He never answered, he just smiled and hugged me tighter.
My sons are absolutely my favorite companions. I’m so glad I get to know them.