Now:
The other day as I went for my morning run I spotted this snake, okay it's a stick, in the field. Let me tell you, it stopped my heart for just a second. I really did think that it was a snake. I could see the mouth and the eyes, then the logical part of my brain kicked in and told me that it was a stick - a big stick, but just a stick. Yet, everyday for a couple of days, that stick stopped my heart.
Then:
Halloween 1996 - first grade - Rick, who never liked Halloween, picked out a snake charmer costume from a magazine. No, this wasn't a catalog, this was a magazine, you know the ones with the wonderful "homemade" costume ideas. So, I show it to Gary and he says that he thinks we can make this one together - with Ricky too, of course ... So Gary gets the tubing and I get the felt and the three of us spend a couple of evenings putting the snake together. An afternoon of shopping finds the cargo shorts - which weren't popular at the time - and the other gear. Halloween day I go to the school for the Halloween Parade. The girls come out of the school in the parade one by one - - - no Ricky. I start asking around, "Where's Ricky?" Finally, one of the teachers tells me that she thinks he is in the nurse's office. I go into the school and lo and behold he is sitting in the nurse's office crying. The school nurse tells me that as soon as the Halloween Parade music started he froze like a deer in headlights, then he started crying. He wanted no part of Halloween - nothing had changed since he was three. (Remember Lili?) So, I took him home where he had great fun handing out candy to the very few kids who traveled up our driveway to trick-or-treat. The snake, however, became a decoration in Rick's room, as it sat draped over his dresser for several years. He never liked Halloween and he still doesn't. His sisters, for years to come, would go trick-or-treating and then share their candy with him. Sometimes they even took an extra pillow case and collected candy for him too. Sounds like a good deal to me. Smart kid, huh?
The other day as I went for my morning run I spotted this snake, okay it's a stick, in the field. Let me tell you, it stopped my heart for just a second. I really did think that it was a snake. I could see the mouth and the eyes, then the logical part of my brain kicked in and told me that it was a stick - a big stick, but just a stick. Yet, everyday for a couple of days, that stick stopped my heart.
Then:Halloween 1996 - first grade - Rick, who never liked Halloween, picked out a snake charmer costume from a magazine. No, this wasn't a catalog, this was a magazine, you know the ones with the wonderful "homemade" costume ideas. So, I show it to Gary and he says that he thinks we can make this one together - with Ricky too, of course ... So Gary gets the tubing and I get the felt and the three of us spend a couple of evenings putting the snake together. An afternoon of shopping finds the cargo shorts - which weren't popular at the time - and the other gear. Halloween day I go to the school for the Halloween Parade. The girls come out of the school in the parade one by one - - - no Ricky. I start asking around, "Where's Ricky?" Finally, one of the teachers tells me that she thinks he is in the nurse's office. I go into the school and lo and behold he is sitting in the nurse's office crying. The school nurse tells me that as soon as the Halloween Parade music started he froze like a deer in headlights, then he started crying. He wanted no part of Halloween - nothing had changed since he was three. (Remember Lili?) So, I took him home where he had great fun handing out candy to the very few kids who traveled up our driveway to trick-or-treat. The snake, however, became a decoration in Rick's room, as it sat draped over his dresser for several years. He never liked Halloween and he still doesn't. His sisters, for years to come, would go trick-or-treating and then share their candy with him. Sometimes they even took an extra pillow case and collected candy for him too. Sounds like a good deal to me. Smart kid, huh?
