It’s Halloween, and here in the US, that means costumes and candy.

I like Halloween. When I was younger, I used to dress up for the occasion, my husband at the time would decorate every inch of the yard. I’d take the kids trick-or-treating and he would give out candy to the ghosts and goblins coming by.

The children and I would walk through the neighborhood; me with my two girls and my next-door neighbor with her three boys. We loved it – and the kids would be ready to quit long before she and I would. Whining that they were tired. My neighbor and I would scoff.

“Tired?” You’ve hardly got any candy. Don’t you want more candy?”

No. They were tired. Their bags were heavy. They wanted to go home.

We’d laugh (as we headed home) and talk about ‘back in our day when Halloween candy was a big deal! WE didn’t HAVE candy all the time like these kids do! Halloween meant something back then!’

My daughter still loves Halloween, our yard is decorated, and (I know I’ve told y’all this before) she invites people over to trick or treat with them. This year, my granddaughter is going to celebrate with friends. The first harbinger of Halloween without kids for my daughter.

We celebrate Day of the Dead too. This is part of my grandchildren’s heritage, and it’s important to all of us that they maintain the connection. Tomorrow is Day of the Dead for children and the altar is already decorated with flowers and candles and things that children love – plastic toys, a little stuffed animal, a Dr. Seuss book, and more. We talk about the children – a friend’s son who died in infancy, an uncle I never knew…

Tomorrow evening, my daughter will change the altar to reflect the adults in our lives who’ve gone before us. And in the evening, we’ll gather at the table and remember them. Her dad, my mother, and other ancestors and friends. Telling stories we remember, looping the children into the shared memories. Holding the memories in our hearts.

I wanted to find a quote that expressed a bit of how I feel about Day of the Dead. I spent some time looking, and found some wonderful poems, but none of them quite work. I can feel what I want to say, but maybe I’ll have to write it myself.

Anyhow. I will share this from Mark Twain, because it made me smile:

All say, "How hard it is that we have to die" — a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live. 

~Mark Twain

Hope whatever you're celebrating, you're celebrating well!