Halloween

Tonight was one of my all-time parenting highlights; watching Ivy spend 2 hours handing out candy on our porch and 1 hour trick-or-treating around our block was absolutely amazing. I have never witnessed such a dense swarm of people, mostly kids, in our neighborhood like that; there were times when the line stretched from our porch 30 kids deep down our steps and walkway to the sidewalk, each waiting for Ivy to drop a piece of candy in their sack. It was a constant flow of candy from bowl to bags and we ran out way before we anticipated, even including a run to the store to replenish supply, due to severe underestimation of the throngs. Ivy handled her duty with a seriousness and focus that I have never seen from her, carefully picking a candy from the assortment and placing it in a waiting receptacle for each child. She was sad when we ran out of candy and had to tell the costumed revelers “Sorry”, but as soon as we started walking down the block, and she understood the concept of receiving the candy from neighbors, she was as joyful as I’ve ever seen her; with every piece of candy she was given, she came bouncing back to us beaming and proudly showing off her loot. She was amazed and enthralled by the lights and decorations (E 4th St. contained some of the best displays I’ve ever seen), and I was able to share with her the phenomenon known as “Ghostbusters” when our neighbor installed a giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with video projections of Slimer in the windows — so she is now an expert at singing the call and response theme song! I felt a beautiful and euphoric combination of nostalgia, wonder, excitement and bliss watching her enjoy Halloween as I imagine I once did.