I remember being SO excited when the Little Prince was
born, not just because we had one of each, but because I thought I would be exempt from bathroom-escort duty
for the newcomer.
That, of course, did NOT happen. What
did happen, however, was that I became exempt from trick-or-treat
duty.
Even better.
The Little Princess was three-years-old
when the Little Prince was born, so she was of her first, real,
mobile-on-her-own, Trick-Or-Treat age, when he was most certainly
not. At the time, we lived near one end of what was, arguably, the
busiest street for T-O-T in W.L. – North Calhoun Street. For non-W.L. residents, this is one great big, long, almost completely
un-side-streeted street that stretches for nearly a third of a mile – or the
equivalent of at least 6 blocks, without any cross-streets. This
was/is parent/child T-O-T paradise – let your kids out at one end,
slowly drive your car up the street (and observe from warm comfort)
as they go door to door to door, until they have a melt-down, their
bag breaks from all that candy, or time runs out (or until you get bored),
whichever comes first.
We had to take out a second mortgage to
pay for all the T-O-T candy that we gave out when we lived there.
(Never mind what we ate ourselves).
A side note: As a child growing up in
WL, I lived two blocks (TWO BLOCKS!) south of this marathon
stretch (T-O-T Nirvana/Valhalla) of North Calhoun, and never,
in my recollection, did my T-O-T route venture that far north. (What
kind of fool was I? What kind of kids never shared reports of this
candy over-abundance?) Those were the days of grade-level class
parties held at the town's churches and the Masonic Lodge – all of
which (at that time) were South of the Thin, Sugared Line. (Except
for the Middle School, which was 2 blocks East of NC, and
therefore in a world all its own) At the time, my main concern was to
plan out a route that was guaranteed to get me to my party on time! My most vivid, T-O-T memory is of the night my BFF
nearly became a real, live, ghost/zombie in her haste to cross the
2-lane state highway that bisects the town. (P.S. I told her to
wait.) (I blame the crappy, plastic masks of the day, of which I
never was privileged to wear. Can you say perpetual hobo costume? Not
that I'm bitter. Actually, Mom made me a furry Monster mask, which I
wore For. Ev. Er.)
But I digress.
So we moved to a quiet sub-division of
quiet W.B. A quiet sub-division, populated primarily by grandparents.
There were probably eight children of T-O-T age in our subdivision
that first year. But I was still in W.L. (and specifically North
Calhoun) candy-buying mode. After amply supplying our approximately 20
Trick-Or-Treaters, we still had enough candy left over for
one-bazillion and three kids.
The important thing is, His Royal
Highness took The Little Princess Trick-Or-Treating, while I stayed
home with The Little Prince, and handed out candy to the
less-than-overwhelming horde.
And thus a tradition was born.
 |
| G&M, or M&M, circa a long time ago. Dang,they're cute. |
The King took the Royal Progeny
trick-or-treating on those cold, wet, dark (did I mention cold?)
nights, for as long as they required an escort. I stayed at home, in
the warm, well-lit, dry (did I mention warm and dry?) house, handing
out (and eating) candy to an ever-shrinking number of
trick-or-treaters.
And thus it came to pass, that on this
All-Hallow's Eve I stayed at home where it was warm, dry, and well
lit, and handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. (The grandparents
have down-sized and moved away The sub-division has been
re-populated by young families, of which we are not one).
And each time I answered the door I
thought of my little ghost and goblin, and the costumes I sewed for
them. (They were off doing who-knows-what kind of late-adolescent,
it's-probably-better-I-don't-know kind of things.)
On the up-side, all the brown
Tootsie-Pops have been handed out.
And I still have two bags of Reese's
Peanut Butter Cups.
(Which I can give The Little Princess
and The Little Prince when we have family dinner this weekend.)
(If there are any left.)
