So Halloween was a bit different in my house when I was growing up. And I think it would've been this way whether or not I'd been disabled. Instead of going trick or treating in our neighbourhood, my parents would take my brother, sister, and I to visit our grandparents and we'd get treats from them. Mainly because we either lived in a bad neighbourhood, lived out in the middle of nowhere, or lived on a busy road. It wasn't until I was 10 years old that I went trick or treating in our neighbourhood for the first time (also the last time because I was 10 years old).
While my siblings got candy from my grandparents, I wasn't able to eat candy or much chocolate since my esophagus wasn't functioning properly, so I was actually being tube fed more than I was eating the regular way. So my grandparents would give me other treats, though I could still eat Aero bars, which is still my favourite chocolate bar to this day. Depending on where we were living at the time and where they were living at the time, we'd go to either my paternal grandparents's place first and then my maternal grandparents's place, or vice versa. We'd wear costumes of course. I don't remember what my siblings wore, but I do remember most of my costumes.
The first costume that I remember wearing was Van Gogh the Lion from a kids show I used to watch called Zoobilee Zoo. Then I wore my TNG Starfleet uniform costume, with a penciled on beard so I could be Commander Riker for Halloween (I would later wear this costume when I visited the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation a few years later). I think I wore that costume for several years because I honestly don't remember what my costumes were until 1994, when I was in grade 2 and started wearing a costume at school. In grade 2 my dad cut the Bat symbol out of the box for the Nintendo 1989 Batman video game and stuck it onto what was supposed to be the upper section of a Darth Vader costume, and I was Batman that year. The following year, in grade 3 I got a Ninja Turtles costume and wore that to school. I don't remember what I was for Halloween in 1996, but in 1997 I wore all black, with a cape and a Darth Vader mask and that's what I wore to go trick or treating in our new neighbourhood for the first and only time. Then in 1998 I wore a cape and a red t-shirt and said I was Robin. And that was pretty much it for me wearing costumes for Halloween, though in high school I had a blue and black sweater that looked like the Starfleet Medical uniform from Star Trek: The Next Generation, so I wore that with black jeans, attached my TNG communicator pin to the shirt and went as a generic Starfleet officer to school that day. Then the following year I went as Bo Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard since I had a blue patternless t-shirt and a button up shirt that was the same colour as Bo's and regular old jeans.
The next time I wore a costume on Halloween was my second year of college. I put on a button up shirt, a gold and black vest, grew my hair out a little bit, grew a slight beard (not much of one) and wore a black cowboy hat, and went as country music singer, Waylon Jennings. And that was the last time I wore a costume for Halloween. Mostly because after that I wasn't actually doing anything for Halloween since I wasn't at school on Halloween for my third/final year of college and I've been at home every year since. Though last year I did put on one of my Ninja Turtles masks for part of the day.
The funny thing about my first, and only, time that I went trick or treating in our neighbourhood was that it snowed that day and into the night. So we all had to bundle up in our snowpants, jacket, hat and gloves, while wearing our costumes. I think I wore my cape over my jacket instead of under it, and I had the Darth Vader mask on of course. Of course, I was in my wheelchair at the time because I couldn't walk on my own and couldn't use my crutches either. So that was a zoo for my parents to have all three of us walking about the neighbourhood. I was 10 (almost 11), my sister was 7, and my brother was 6, so that was fun. After that I stopped going trick or treating since I couldn't eat the candy and chocolates anyway, though my siblings continued to go for a few years after that, even going with friends sometimes too. I stayed home and listened to Halloween music on the radio like "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. and "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett.
That was Halloween for me growing up. I thought I'd go lighter with my topic this time, since last time I got sentimental by talking about my friends, and previous posts have been about the harder parts of being disabled. I wish I had pictures to accompany this post, but I don't. I'm sure my mom or grandmother has pictures of me in my early Halloween costumes stashed away somewhere, so maybe I'll have them dug out and scanned if I ever decide to write a book out of these blog posts. But for my purposes here, your imaginations will have to suffice.
Alright guys that's gonna be it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for this week's comic book review, another Halloween related post on Friday and then my review of the season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian on Saturday. So until then have a wonderful night and stay warm and safe. Later.
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