Halloween Post-script - the costume story

I have to mention how Skye's Halloween costume came to be. She was vacillating as kids do, between a pirate, a monster, a firefighter, and a princess. (And you know which one of those I REALLY didn't want, right? But I was quiet, really.) But when it came down to crunch time for deciding on a Halloween costume, she had actually stuck with the witch idea for a couple weeks. I was trying not to influence her, but was secretly elated with her choice. I quickly called my Mama and asked if she happened to still have the witch costume she had made for me roughly 30 years ago. Of course she did! Two moves and 30 years later, she had held on to that costume, just in case. I love that about her. Yes, this tends to lead to having more stuff than one might need, but WOW, when it results in my daughter getting to wear the costume that her grandmother made for her mother, isn't it worth it? A little alteration of an 8-year-old-ish costume into a four-year-old one, and there you have it, a family heirloom.

I still remember going to the fabric store with my mother, picking out the pattern, the black fabric, and the special silver fabric for my very own star and moon design. I remember sewing the plastic spider to my hugely over-sized witch hat that she gently tried to talk me out of, but let me get. I remember putting on the green makeup painstakingly that Halloween night. I remember it being extra cold that year and wearing lots of extra clothes. I remember being a little exhilarated by getting a late start so that it was just a little darker than usual. I was an experienced trick-or-treater by that point and I think I may have even visited the neighbors on our street by myself. It meant so much to have something that my mother and I had made together. As I hemmed it for Skye, I noticed that it old seam looked hand sewn. I guessed that maybe Mom had let me hem it, to help me participate. Touching that polyester brought back so many memories.

At the end of this year's Halloween, I curled up in bed with Skye and she said the words that we hear so often these days. "Mama, can you tell me a story when you were a kid?" So, of course I told her the story of how the costume came to be and how Grammy had saved the costume just in case one of her grandchildren might want to wear it. "Like me," she said. "Yes, just for you, Skye, Grammy saved it just for you."