Halloween and Best Friends

I love fall. I love when the leaves change colour and when it gets a little cooler but you still only need a sweatshirt when you go for a walk. I love the cozy vibes but without snow. However, there is one thing that I dislike about fall, Halloween. Just when I start to enjoy the cozy fall vibes there is a sudden onslaught of Horror. Scary stuff is everywhere and I hate it. I will never understand the desire to be scared. I went to a Haunted House once and I hated it, people jumping out at me in a dark room is not how I want to spend an evening. I have never enjoyed horror movies or books, they give me nightmares. I guess I just don’t get it.

Okay, Okay, I don’t completely hate Halloween. When I was kid I loved to get dressed up and go trick or treating. It was fun and not at all scary. Except that one time…There was a house in my neighbourhood that would go all out for Halloween with decorations and scary sounds playing and one year they had someone sitting on the porch who you thought was fake but then started to move and it freak me the eff out. I did hate that. 

Mostly Halloween was fun. I would pick a different Disney princess to dress up as and my brother and I would be taken trick or treating by my Dad. We would first drive into town to see my Granny and then we would stop at my Grandma and Grandpa’s and then we would go to all the neighbours houses. It was fun to see everyone and talk to them about my costume. Getting free candy was also a highlight. 

At the end of the night we would go home and dump out our bags of candy on the floor and sort through it all. Sometimes my brother and I would trade each other for more of the things we liked the best. We would tell my Mom all about what happened that night and we would listen to the CKLP Halloween special. Yes, my tiny town had a radio station that played a Halloween special every year and I loved it. This radio special is the reason that I associate the song Clap for the Wolfman by The Guess Who with Halloween even though it has nothing to do with Halloween. 

My worst Halloween happened when I was in grade five. That year was the year that I started to curl and it just so happened that the very first day of curling was Halloween. I was so excited to start curling, my brother was already a curler and I thought it looked like fun. I remember getting to the rink, changing into my clean shoes and starting to learn about how to curl. Then it went south. The girls that were in charge of my group had me switch the slider from one foot to the other, I’m still not sure why, and I forgot and when I stepped onto the ice it was slider first and I fell. I landed on my shoulder and I immediately knew that something was wrong. I remember crying and the girls leading my group trying to help me off the ice and to a bench, only they were holding the arm of the shoulder that I fell on and it hurt so bad. 

I don’t fully remember what happened next. I know that my Mom came and got me but I don’t remember if we went straight to hospital or if we went home first. All I remember is that I sat in the hospital for what felt like a really long time but in reality was probably not that long and I had an X-ray. It was determined that I had a broken collar bone and I was given a harness looking thing that was supposed to do something but for the life of me I am not sure what it was except to make my back really itchy. 

Other then being in a lot of pain I was really sad that I had to miss out on trick or treating. I was going to be a Teddy Bear and I was excited about it, but it was not meant to be. I will say my brother sure did his duty as a big brother though. He asked if everyone would give me candy while he was out. I remember he dressed at the wrestler The Undertaker that year. I felt so thankful that I didn’t have to miss out on everything that year. I have a pretty great brother.

In High School Halloween was still fun because it meant dressing up for dances. I had some of my best costumes in High School, Frodo and Angus Young. Those dances where always fun. As the years continued on I lost interest in dressing up and started to dislike Halloween a bit. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I started to enjoy Halloween again. This was the year after my nephew was born. My brother and sister-in-law started to have a Halloween party that year. It was so fun to see my nephew dressed up that I started to be a little excited for the fun and cuteness that the day would hold. I can’t wait to see what the kids are dressed as this year!

One of my favourite recent Halloweens happened five years ago. This was the night that I met one of my best friends. It was at a party that another best friend had and I was dressed as Roger Daltrey. No one got what my costume was supposed to be and they all continued to give me strange looks once I explained it. When J arrived and I told him who I was he said “From The Who?” And I knew that there was something about him. After a drink or two I declared that J was my new best friend and I was not wrong. 

Over the years J and my friendship grew and a tradition that we created was to get together around Halloween and watch the movie Shaun of the Dead. This is only “Horror” movie that I watch, I mean it is a parody so not that scary. Last year was the first year that we did not get together to watch it, covid prevented it, but we did have a lengthy FaceTime so I feel like that counted. I feel lucky that this year we were able to pick up the tradition again and it was the first time that I got see him after not seeing him through all this pandemic…it seemed fitting.

Hmmm, have I convinced myself that I like Halloween? I will admit that while I don’t like the scary stuff I do enjoy the traditions that are around the holiday. I guess, in the end, I just like any excuse to spend time with the people that I love.