We Only Have About Ten Halloweens

The best thing about Halloween is how much fun it is for little kids. I love all of October, in general. I love how much the kids love going to the pumpkin patch, making Jack-O-Lanterns, and of course, going trick-or-treating. It's exciting how excited and happy doing these simple things make them. Hell, if knocking on people's doors and asking for candy made me as happy as it made them, I would do it every day. 

As we were driving to my mom's house on Halloween it hit me that in 18 years we will no longer have children to dress in costumes, trick-or-treaters to take trick-or-treating, scary movies or haunted houses to go to. Our children will be adults and the chaos and struggle (because it truly is) to get everyone dressed, out the door, decently well-rested, and temporarily happy will no longer fill our time. We will have the time we so desperately yearn for. Jarod and I will have the freedom of idle hands.

There are seasons in life and I look forward to each one. I'm excited to be a grandma. I'm excited to cuddle with my husband again without the anxiousness of having to do something else, something that needs to be done: laundry, dishes, dinner, emails. But I, also, want to be present. Present in the now; present in this utterly exhausting and mildly insane season of now because soon, the leaves of fall will rustle away and be replaced with the snow of winter, all I will have left are these memories.

And so, I made Jarod and I into zombies. Yay for playing with makeup and only spending under $5 for both our costumes! The older boys were both red Power Rangers, Ali was a princess, and baby Carsen was handed-down the puppy dog costume each of my kids have worn for one Halloween or another. 

We hit every house with Halloween decorations or a porch light on, the kids held their baskets out while saying "trick-or-treat," and with the excitement of the night, they forgot to say, "thank you" more than half of the time. Jarod and I took turns running Ali to each house the older kids ran to. We constantly did head-counts for our kids to make sure nobody was left behind and reminded them they needed to walk on the sidewalk. It was tiring and exhausting . . . 

and one of my absolute favorite days ever.

Later, I watched Grey's Anatomy and it was said that we, parents, only get about ten Halloweens with our kids before they want nothing to do with and they'd rather hang out with their friends. And it struck me, I'm going to have much less years than I originally thought, less years than I want, less years of having this whole gang together on this day.

My kids are going to grow up and that's okay because that's what kids are suppose to do, but realizing how sacred and rare a day like this was made Halloween 2013 even more special. I'm forever thankful I will always have these memories, pictures, and this video:

 

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