Halloween
I saw a date on a piece a paper
today, October 31st. It's Halloween,
a day that I have always loved. This year Halloween is on
a
Thursday, which means that next year it will be on a Friday. Halloween on a
Friday is the best day to have it on. No school or work the following day to
worry about that would bring the night to an early close.
Thinking of this reminds me of the last time Halloween was on a
Friday. It was March and I had recently moved back to
home a couple days or so, I went to Atomic Comics to check
out the store.
I saw a flyer to a Star Wars
convention scheduled for October 31st.
It seemed like fate that I would
run across the flyer. I had only been in town a few
days and needed something to look forward to. I had never
been to a
Star Wars convention before so
this would be cool. I went home and
showed my mom about the convention and told her that I was going
and that
I wanted her to go with me. I
know this is not exactly what one would think
as a conventional mom and son outing but it fit us
perfectly. Oh I know what
you are thinking what's wrong with a mom taking her little
boy to something he liked.
Well I was 25 and she was well…
a moms age (whatever that was). You would think that
I would have had to drag her
along, but she was just as excited to go as I was
(well
maybe not as, but close).
A little history may be in order her to explain where the connection
was with us and Star Wars. In 1977 Star Wars came to the theatres. I was five
years old and
my brother and sister were older than I and they didn't want me to tag along to
go see the
movie with them. Being five I was devastated that they could go but I couldn't,
so my mom promised to take me as soon as she could. She of course followed
through on her
promise and we went. We both fell in love with the movie and had a great
time, but what sealed the day in infamy was that as we left the Cinema
Capri my mom pulled out into traffic and someone plowed into the front of
our 67 Chevelle. When it was all said in done everyone was okay though the
car had to get a new front end. Anyway the day was punctuated forever.
Fast forward 20 years, we were trying to get to know each
other all over again. So the day of the convention was a date that we
both looked forward to.
Like any day in the future that you look forward to it took
forever to arrive, but it finally did. Before we could go to the convention
I had to go switch my insurance.
The insurance agent I went to
see was a longtime friend of my dad’s named Rick. His office
was about 30 miles
the opposite way but it had to be done before we went
anywhere.
We arrive and Rick greeted me
with a large smile and said, "Nice to
see you again." My response was a sarcastic, "Yeah, nice to see you
too.
There are no woman's heads sticking out of any tables are there?" We all
shared a reminiscent laugh and talked about the day I was referencing.
Ironically, it was 20 years to the day that my family went to his house for a
Halloween party. The party was going great and they sent us kids out to
Trick or Treat. After we were all done Trick or Treating we went back to
the party. It was at that time I saw something that would
scar me for many years to come.
I walked into the house, digging
into the bag of candy I collected, wanting to
find the perfect piece to eat right away. I looked up
and saw a head of a woman in the middle of the kitchen table. Okay no big
deal. It is just a fake head right? The problem was that she began to talk
and that was more than this five year old needed to see before he dropped his
precious candy and ran. Since I refused to go into the house ever
again we all went
home. Don't laugh you would have done the same.
After reminiscing that day 20
years ago and finished the insurance business, we said
our goodbyes then headed to the convention, which was a good
30-60 minute drive.
(The insurance office was around
83rd Ave and
We arrived and walked the entire convention looking at all the items
that were there, some that we have seen before and others that we hadn't. We
both bought a figure there, I bought a Princess Leia in slave outfit and my
mom bought Bousch (princess Leia in a bounty hunter outfit) After we had
walked the entire place and took in all that we could, we decided that it
was time to get home before dark. She wanted to get home before the trick-or-treater’s
started coming by.
On the way home, like we had the entire day, we talked like we were best
friends.
Eventually silence did come on
the way home, but it was okay because
we were still just enjoying the time together. We got home
and stood in front of our house
and talked with our neighbor as dusk fell upon our perfect
day. Our day ended when the
headlights of my dad's car came towards us and into the driveway,
beginning their night together.
To me that day is frozen in time, when a mother and son were never
told old or embarrassed to share their love for something that they had in
common. I write this knowing that you can hear my thoughts Mom. As I type you
are reliving those days with me all over again wishing we could have one more
day together to spend it like we did. Because I do too.
Forever missing you... My Mother,
my friend…
Written by Lanis
10/31/02 Edited 10/22/03