Sunday, October 31, 2004
HALLOWEEN....2004
Today is my day to escape inside my brain, dig around, and see what comes up. Sorta’ like climbing the stairs into grandma’s attic to see what you can find to “play with.” That was such fun on rainy days at MY grandma’s house.
Since today is Halloween and a wondrous time for children to “dress up” as someone who lives in their imagination…..I crossed a few light years to my own childhood….and came forward to my children and a few others. Oh if only we could move as fast as those brain waves. I have a series of good surfing waves when I let my mind wander.
Halloween, 1939, we had a deep snow in Omaha. The flakes came down all day and my brother, Louis, and I were anxiously waiting for dark so we could go out “trick or treating”……when the magic time came and we bundled up with our coats, mittens, stocking caps and leggings, my “over shoes” wouldn’t pull on over my shoes. During the past year my feet and shoe size outgrew them. Dad saw my dismay and came up with a solution. He told me to take my shoes off and when I did so, he wrapped my feet in layers of newspaper. He then told me to put my foot in the over-shoe and when I did, my foot went in. At that moment, I knew my dad could do ANYTHING!!
Of course, being small, the snow was deeper for me than my big brother. He was admonished to “watch out” for me and I slowed him down, terribly. We finally had to get out in the street and follow the tire tracks….then turning off to go to the front doors of the houses. My brother soon found that my small size reaped big benefits so he was glad to stick with me for extra handouts. When we came home, out sacks were full of goodies and we emptied it out on the dining room table to look at our treasure……….mom and dad sat down and looked at all of it while my brother gave accounts of our evening. I remember such a happy time of us all sitting around the table, laughing and eating the candy. Of course, dad, the great story teller…..would lapse back when he was a kid and tell us all over again of the wild escapades he and his brothers pulled. I can imagine the scene, looking in from outdoors, at the lights of the house and a little family of four laughing and talking and eating candy. It is a Kodak moment of my past.
When my own three children were small and used to go trick or treating it was fun to make their costumes, dress them up and take pictures. I have some in my album that are more precious to me than gold. Their happy little faces beaming by a big jack-o-lantern!! When they were little we always had a “carving time” but as they grew older we ended up taking a magic marker to draw on funny faces. Our neighbors, the Fowlers, used to have more fun than the kids. Gene would dress up in a scary outfit and sit by the door. When Rosalie opened it to give out candy, Gene would yell until their blood froze in their veins. Ah, yes…..those were the days……..
In the vein of childhood and the magic of those years, I ran across a Dr. Seuss poem that says to me what the best “costume” is for us all……
WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
If you’d never been born, well then what would you be?
You might be a fish? Or a toad in a tree!
You might be a doorknob! Or three baked potatoes!
You might be a bag full of hard green tomatoes!
Or worse than all that--why, you might be a WASN’T!
A WASN’T has no fun at all. No, he doesn’t.
A WASN’T just isn’t. He just isn’t present.
But you--you ARE YOU! And now, isn’t that pleasant?
Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not a clam or a yam!
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!
If I say so myself, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!”
Whoever you are out there in cyber-land, though we may never meet….go out there as ghosts, goblins, witches….but DO trick or treat!! Halloween is for the young and the old….and for all of the stories, so happily told!! It’s more than just candy or anything dandy……..it’s for dressing up fancy in anything handy. When costumes are dusty and all put away……..your memories, though rusty, will remember the day!! (My apologies to Dr. Seuss.) Under those costumes is a you-ier you!!
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Since today is Halloween and a wondrous time for children to “dress up” as someone who lives in their imagination…..I crossed a few light years to my own childhood….and came forward to my children and a few others. Oh if only we could move as fast as those brain waves. I have a series of good surfing waves when I let my mind wander.
Halloween, 1939, we had a deep snow in Omaha. The flakes came down all day and my brother, Louis, and I were anxiously waiting for dark so we could go out “trick or treating”……when the magic time came and we bundled up with our coats, mittens, stocking caps and leggings, my “over shoes” wouldn’t pull on over my shoes. During the past year my feet and shoe size outgrew them. Dad saw my dismay and came up with a solution. He told me to take my shoes off and when I did so, he wrapped my feet in layers of newspaper. He then told me to put my foot in the over-shoe and when I did, my foot went in. At that moment, I knew my dad could do ANYTHING!!
Of course, being small, the snow was deeper for me than my big brother. He was admonished to “watch out” for me and I slowed him down, terribly. We finally had to get out in the street and follow the tire tracks….then turning off to go to the front doors of the houses. My brother soon found that my small size reaped big benefits so he was glad to stick with me for extra handouts. When we came home, out sacks were full of goodies and we emptied it out on the dining room table to look at our treasure……….mom and dad sat down and looked at all of it while my brother gave accounts of our evening. I remember such a happy time of us all sitting around the table, laughing and eating the candy. Of course, dad, the great story teller…..would lapse back when he was a kid and tell us all over again of the wild escapades he and his brothers pulled. I can imagine the scene, looking in from outdoors, at the lights of the house and a little family of four laughing and talking and eating candy. It is a Kodak moment of my past.
When my own three children were small and used to go trick or treating it was fun to make their costumes, dress them up and take pictures. I have some in my album that are more precious to me than gold. Their happy little faces beaming by a big jack-o-lantern!! When they were little we always had a “carving time” but as they grew older we ended up taking a magic marker to draw on funny faces. Our neighbors, the Fowlers, used to have more fun than the kids. Gene would dress up in a scary outfit and sit by the door. When Rosalie opened it to give out candy, Gene would yell until their blood froze in their veins. Ah, yes…..those were the days……..
In the vein of childhood and the magic of those years, I ran across a Dr. Seuss poem that says to me what the best “costume” is for us all……
WHAT WOULD YOU BE?
If you’d never been born, well then what would you be?
You might be a fish? Or a toad in a tree!
You might be a doorknob! Or three baked potatoes!
You might be a bag full of hard green tomatoes!
Or worse than all that--why, you might be a WASN’T!
A WASN’T has no fun at all. No, he doesn’t.
A WASN’T just isn’t. He just isn’t present.
But you--you ARE YOU! And now, isn’t that pleasant?
Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not a clam or a yam!
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!
If I say so myself, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!”
Whoever you are out there in cyber-land, though we may never meet….go out there as ghosts, goblins, witches….but DO trick or treat!! Halloween is for the young and the old….and for all of the stories, so happily told!! It’s more than just candy or anything dandy……..it’s for dressing up fancy in anything handy. When costumes are dusty and all put away……..your memories, though rusty, will remember the day!! (My apologies to Dr. Seuss.) Under those costumes is a you-ier you!!
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
