Halloween in the Neighborhood

I grew up in New York City, so Halloween looked a little different from the movies I grew up watching in the 90s, but it was still my favorite holiday. As a kid with a serious sweet tooth, Halloween was the ultimate event of the year. I got to dress up in a cool costume AND end the night with a stash of candy to munch on over the next month?

We went trick-or-treating every year, usually with my best friend Rosie and her mom and sister. We often coordinated our costumes, and there was always a homemade element thanks to our moms’ craft skills (I think my favorite costume of all time is still the felt candy corn dress that my mom sewed for me). They would meet us at our house, we’d snap a photo on the stoop, and then set off down Amsterdam Avenue to start our trick-or-treating adventure. After hitting up all the stores, we’d head towards a couple of streets where we knew there were brownstones with spooky decor that would allow neighborhood kids to visit. I’d end the night exhausted and with a sugar stomachache. It was the best!

Somewhere during my tenure as a teacher though, I started to become a holiday grinch. I don’t think it happened in my first few years. And then at Samara, we had a Halloween character parade, which was pretty cool, though a bit tiring. But by the time I was at KLA, I couldn’t handle the energy that every holiday meant, especially Halloween. School started in August and students would already be talking about and planning their costumes. By the time Halloween actually rolled around, I’d be dreading it, and on the day itself, I would just be trying to make it through. And if we had school the following day? Forget about it — the kids would be zombies, with full-on candy hangovers. Last year I was actually relieved that I got to miss Halloween at school because I was home sick.

Today on my afternoon walk with Phoebe, though, I started thinking about Halloween like I used to.

Our building sits right on the border between the City of Miami and Coral Gables, and our balcony overlooks a small gated community that reminds me of what those neighborhoods in the early 90s may have been like — kids bike and play basketball and sell lemonade, neighbors wave at you and say hello as you pass, and the Halloween decorations are on point. In fact, some of them are quite creepy and have given me and Phoebe a scare.

Like this skeleton which I thought was an emaciated child swinging! For Phoebe, it was a skeleton/ghoul creeping out of a hedge that made her jump as though she’d seen a real ghost (though for a dog this anxious, getting spooked isn’t that abnormal!). As I walked, I thought about trick-or-treating with Patrick’s daughter or our own future kid. I started getting… excited about Halloween again.

I’m not sure whether to credit leaving teaching or our new neighborhood, but I welcome the new perspective! Good riddance, grinch!