Halloween's Coming!

Halloween's coming!

To my German Familie, Halloween's a big deal in the U.S.

People, young and old, cram into overcrowded and overpriced Halloween Superstores at the last moment, frantically searching out that perfect costume (for women, something trampy; for men, something that requires the least amount of effort) to wear to their various Halloween parties/dances/festivals. Until they shut it down due to gang shootings, about 10,000 people would head to The Castro in San Francisco for Halloween fun, to drink, and mostly, check out the freaks. We Americans spend $5 Billion/year on Halloween. Yes, Halloween is that big.

But back when I was a kid, Halloween was a much lower keyed, "kid's only" night that involved a costume -- usually homemade, unless you lived with our decidedly uncrafty family (no offense, Ma) -- running door to door to say "Trick Or Treat!" and accumulate free candy. If you were a bad kid, which I was not, it was also a good time to create some havoc, toilet paper the nerd's house on the next block, and make a nuisance of yourself. Next to Christmas (is a Christmas-celebrating atheist family hypocritical?) Halloween was my favorite time of year!

Now little Sophie's finally gotten old enough to appreciate this little fake holiday. Last year, I bought her a race car driver costume and Sebastian took her trick-or-treating while I handed out candy at home.

For her first Halloween, Sebastian had to be pushed, hard and repeatedly, to get out the door, asking me things like, "I don't get what we're trying to do. Are we like beggars going to people's door asking for free stuff? Can't I just go buy her some candy?" Silly Sebastian and his German ways. . . He'll learn. Here in America, we like free stuff from the neighbors!

This year, without thinking of Halloween, I brought up a conversation with Sophia. I thought we were having the "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" conversation. I planned on artfully guiding the conversation toward "You can be anything you want to be when you grow up!" I hoped to hear doctor or teacher or something. Somehow the conversation took an unanticipated turn.

But first, I thought we were talking about the same thing. "I want to be an astronaut." I smiled brightly and asked her why, thinking we'd talk about the stars and going into space. She proceeded to tell me about all of the wonderful accessories astronauts get to wear. She likes the jumpsuit action, apparently.

I asked Sophie if she liked anything else about being an astronaut, praying that she wouldn't launch into a discussion about the fabulousness of having your own rocket ship, and she finally concluded that it's cool they get to "go high in outer space." Yay! Mission accomplished! I successfully groomed our little girl into a person with goals and aspirations; someone who wants to learn science and grow and be someone!

Then she mentioned that she'd also like to be a pirate. They have cool boats.

She is, in so many ways, her father's daughter.