I recently read this article and I felt its truth all the way to my soul. As my son grew up, he stopped trick or treating, choosing to stay home and hand out candy, but my daughter has been the opposite. She has embraced every Halloween as joyfully as she did when she was a toddler.
Every year since she reached a certain age, a certain maturity, a certain height, I cringed when people asked what I was doing for Halloween. I will admit to worrying about how others would react when they heard I was taking my high school daughter and her friends trick or treating. Would they think the girls were too old? That I should tell them to leave this night of childhood joy behind and be young adults? Would they be turned away from doors with the admonishment that Halloween is for kids?
The thing is, she is still a kid. She plans her costumes, she embraces the fun and excitement of this night, she knocks on her great-grandparents door to show off her outfit, she says thank you with real gratitude. She is a high school senior this year, this last year of true childhood, and I know this will be the last time I take her out, with the car full of laughing girls and sugar flowing through veins. I am going to savor it. I am not ashamed of wanting her to stay young as long as she can.
There will be plenty of years to come when she will be standing on the other side of the door, handing out the treats.
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