her earlier incarnations

Girl Scout Party


It's mid-October, just about, and thoughts turn to Halloween, which brings many memories. The year when I was very small and dragged my paper treat bag on the damp ground, resulting in a hole through which most of my candy trickled out. When we got home and discovered that, my brother actually shared his goodies with me. I was very very young, so I do not know if he was generous or merely under duress. I think I was a clown that year; Mom often dressed us as clowns when we were small - she had made the costumes and of course they were baggy so we could keep wearing them for a while, and then I could wear my brother's, so I probably was a clown for even longer.

And Halloweens with my girls. Jessica's first Halloween was so warm - I had made a little overall thing from grey velour with a mouse embroidered on the bib part, and she had a pink checked shirt to go under it, but it was too warm for the shirt so she just wore the overalls and I painted whiskers on her face. Such a simple little mouse, and that was only the beginning of year upon year of Halloween costumes. I remember a 4-year-old witch with a green face; Thing 1 from The Cat in the Hat; a Popple; Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast; a clown, of course; Rose from Titanic; this continued on for years and years, because even when she was too old to go out, she dressed up to stay home and hand out the treats.