Our Scariest Halloween Yet

Thanks to Aunt A’s kind invite, we had plans for the evening. We would head to cousins’ house, head out to trick-or-treat between rain drops, and enjoy a relaxed Halloween together.

About 20 minutes before we were to leave, I heard Monkey call my name in a warbley voice. I was just getting out of the shower, and came out to the front room to see what she needed. She pointed out the front window…

Um, yeah…

Monkey heard squealing tires, and looked out the front window in time to see the black truck roll to a stop in our yard. I ran out the front door, while dialing 911, although many people had already stopped to help, and several were also on phones.

Traffic was backed up for several hours. Monkey and I were interested in watching how the professionals handled the situation, and she was grateful for the glimpse into how many people stopped to help and how many firefighters and EMTs came to help. She was proud of the small role she played in being sure that help was on the way as well.

Needless to say, we didn’t go out trick-or-treating. Buds went out with cousins, and even a couple hours later when he tried to get home, he sat and waited a few hundred yards from our drive as the tow trucks hauled away the vehicles. Our crew and I headed to the home theater to watch A Little Princess and to gain back some equilibrium.

It ended up being a fine evening, and the next day, the children and I headed to Target where they each picked a bag of post-Halloween candy and before Family Movie Night on Friday, we had a Halloween Candy Hunt. That could become a new family tradition.

Thank God for airbags and modern vehicles, and thank God for Mr. Rogers:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”

― Fred Rogers

Oh,yeah, just so we’ll remember some day. The Buster was going as a gladiator. Yessa was an Earth Fairy, and Monkey was going to be the Green Witch, same as last year.

Funny Monkey story, the children were invited to wear their costumes last Sunday for the Fall Festival at church. Monkey could not find her green velvet dress to wear for her costume, so she just went as herself. During the children’s time, when all the children are at the front of the sanctuary, the leader asked what her costume was and she replied, “I’m a girl in search of a costume.”

That got a tremendous round of laughter.

Take care.