Trick-or-Treat!

I decided to wrestle Mason into his costume one last time tonight, since it's officially Halloween and everything. It's always been one of my favorite holidays, so I couldn't just stay home and miss it. Trick-or-Treating was from six until eight, so at six o'clock, I strapped Mason Monkey into his stroller and we were off.

It was the perfect night to take a walk. For once, it actually felt like fall. I could smell the leaves and it was warm enough that Mason didn't even need a blanket. Instead of walking our usual loop, we walked down the side streets in the more rural areas. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I was pretty sure I wanted to take Mason to the door of at least one house. All the while I was walking, I was keeping my eyes open for that perfect house. I was peeping in windows searching for friendly looking people with their porch light on.

I watched witches and ghosts and Power Rangers run around on sugar-highs, moms following behind yelling, in vain, for them to slow down and walk. As I watched a four-year-old Super Man chasing his big brother and sister fly across the street and face plant into the concrete, I realized that that could very likely be Mason some day. Super Man's mom, already well-practiced at handling these sorts of dramas, picked up her screaming child without missing a beat and said something about his siblings taking all the candy if he didn't hurry. He wiped his tears, forgot about his injuries, and continued across the street as if nothing had happened. How did that mom do it? I think I would have sat down and cried.

Anyway, about twenty minutes into our walk I saw it. Looking into a big picture window, I could see a gray-haired old lady folding clothes or something on the couch. The porch light was on. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to go up the sidewalk. I'm not sure why I was so nervous. I guess I just didn't know what I was going to say. Clearly, Mason's too little for chocolate, and anyone that would give him chocolate would know that I was going to be the one eating it, but I just wanted a picture of him trick-or-treating for the scrapbook. Surely, this nice old lady would understand and would hold Mason while I snapped a quick picture of her handing him a bag of M&Ms.

That's when I glanced down at Mason and saw this:

Oh well, at least he kept Mommy from panicking about knocking on the door of a stranger. And hey, there's always next year. Happy Halloween, Monkey.