Appearances

Wouldn't it be great if we all grew up to be what we wanted to be? The world would be full of Nurses, Firemen, and Ballerinas.- Lily Tomlin
Lily had it right. We wouldn't get sick, or trapped in burning buildings, or have to look far for entertainment. That's kind of what Halloween used to be. I'm always gratified when the number of Spider Men outnumber the kids dressed as the psycho killer in Scream. There are still a number of little girls whose mothers indulge in the collective Princess fantasy, but those are the few and far between. A second grade girl announced that her mother was going to dress her as Nicky Minaj. "Fake eyelashes and everything." I shuddered to think what "everything' might mean.
I work at a school where, a couple years back, I had a fourth grader explain to me that his costume was "a pimp." We routinely have parents showing up as "hustlers," or "sexy witches." The good news is that this happens primarily on Halloween. The hard part comes when you have to put these images aside and go back to real life the next day. The superheros and ax-wielding monsters turn back into little boys and girls. The sugar hangover won't fully recede until all the Skittles and Butterfingers have been eaten, but the window into that other world will close again for another year. I look forward to seeing them again, when they are all grown up. When they become firemen. Or nurses. Or pimps.