A Halloween Memory

We were discussing today whether or not the squirrels are too old for trick-or-treating.  They're 15 and 16.  I said the last time I went trick-or-treating when I was a kid was when I was 6 or 7.  My dad died when I was newly-turned 8, and I know I didn't go after that.

I remembered something, though, about that.  When I was probably 10 or 11 - still tiny by my standards today ;-) -  my brother and I were waiting on our mom (she was teaching then, and late at school working on something, and we were swinging outside while we waited) and talking.  He said it was Halloween, and remember what fun we used to have going trick-or-treating, and wouldn't it be nice to get free candy?  We talked a bit about that, then what we could do for costumes, and it sounded like a Good Idea.  So he said I should ask mom if we could go.  We went inside, and I asked, and she looked SO horrified and said NO we could NOT go, and WHAT kind of a person was I to even THINK of going out on such a HORRIBLE day and celebrating the DEVIL?  I felt about 2 inches tall, especially when my brother said, "I TOLD her it wasn't a good idea, but she wouldn't listen."  (In his defense, he would have been 11 or 12.) ;-)

I was ashamed to think that I might have fallen so far as to want to celebrate the devil's day.  I can still remember the shame I felt for suggesting it.

I'm glad my kid's memories of halloween are happier ones. :)