Thinking About These Things

On the radio this morning, of course the talk was of Halloween and scary things.  All I could think of after a lady called in explaining a time she was so scared of a man in a mask when she was nine years old, was the when we celebrated Halloween in Fairview, MT with our best friends named Daryl, Kathy, Kimberly, and Lane (at least I think Lane was born by then).  

Halloween must have been a Friday that year because there would have been no school skipping for such a rendezvous when all parties involved were teachers or principals or farmers.   

Also that year I was six or seven because I was in the awful stages of growing out a very short style haircut which I insisted on getting.  I was a princess with a garage sale purple dress which was so very beautiful to my young eyes and a tinfoil crown.  Ummmm, yes.  A fancy crown made from tinfoil.  I loved it and felt it was so special.  My mom had a way of doing that kind of thing.  

I can't quite remember what Travis and Kimberly's costumes were, vampire maybe for him?  There's a really fantastic picture of the three of us standing on their house's red stained deck but I don't have it right here so work with me.

Daryl was a character.  Well, he still is.  He has entire persona he can change into which involve different gaits to his walk and the flipping up of cap bills.  He can stay in that character a long time and my dad joins in on the gong show which made, and continues to make, much entertainment.  And Daryl called me Butser and Dad-o called me Sep-I.  Yep there's that too.  Kathy was basically my mom and vice versa for Kimberly with Momma Debi.  Those two have the same vibe all around.  Encouraging creative messy play?  Yep.  Making peach pies on August days while canning something?  Yep.  Keeping too many momentos from everything?  Yep.  Making the every day feel special?  Yep.   

In other words, they were family.  They are family.  

Well on that Halloween at their house in Fairview, Daryl played a trick.  I mean of course he played a trick.  You know those fake people put in their yards?  Like a stuffed scarecrow or maybe a stuffed witch or something of that nature.  Well, Daryl dressed himself in coveralls and added padding.  And he put on a mask and a stocking cap and gloves and he sat on a lawn chair on their deck with his leg crossed looking real fake like.  Then he didn't move a muscle.  For a long time.  So the trick or treaters would assume he was of the fake variety discussed earlier.  Then when those poor little dressed up goblins and ghouls were just about to knock on the door, Daryl would say something and move around a bit.  And scare the you know what out of them.

It's a memory which I cherish.   

The memory of Halloween in Fairview, MT as a princess with a tinfoil crown and a garage sale purple dress with my very best friend in the whole wide world.  The greatness of that memory has nothing to do with our costumes or perfectly made detailed plans, it has everything to do with the fun created by our parents.  It has everything to do with them letting go and being ridiculous right along with us.  

I need these reminders sometimes.  That crowns don't need to be perfect, they can be made of tinfoil.

Kimberly and I live far far away from each other now and she lives a busy life with her two precious girls and her husband so we don't catch up often anymore.  But I know she's there and I'm hoping she knows I am here.  At the drop of a hat.  We are those friends.  The ones who can go months without a word and then see each other and it's right to the big talk.  The big talk where we can say things we probably would never say to anyone else.  We are those friends.  

She was here this summer and we met on a Saturday morning for coffee which turned into hours of talk.  It was so filling, to be across from the girl who has known me through it all.  Through being four and five and six and nineteen and twenty and thirty.  She has been there, a constant.  And I love her for it.  Besides, there's no one that can lip sing to "Oh Mickey!" and say the Pledge of Allegiance incorrectly and put on Santa Shop plays like her and I.    

It's funny how hearing something on the radio on your way to work can spur a memory in your mind and make you think about these things.  The things of Halloweens and years past.  Here's to hoping each and every one of your Halloween nights was for the books.