Halloween treats, a bit early

Today, Robert Kaufman did a give away on Twitter. And, I won.

You had to give a favorite Halloween memory and in 140 words, exactly, here's what I said:

I fell off my bike when I was 9 and broke my front tooth,

my mom let me be a ghost (she never let any other sibling do that)

Of course, there's a story and here's what it is:

When I was 9, my best friend, Debbie Lapp, and I were riding our bikes. I hit a bump in the sidwalk and went over the handlebars. It was Halloween and I was scraped up from forehead to chin, and had a broken front tooth. When you're 9 and you finally get your big teeth, this is pretty traumatic.

For what seemed like forever, I had been asking my mom to be a ghost. She always said,

"No, it's too dangerous to be a ghost."

(You know, you can't see through the eye holes, you might trip on the sheet.)

An aside: I know all these things now, but when I was 9, it seemed like utter nonsense. And now, that I'm a mom, there's no way I'd let my kids be a ghost, or anything else dangerous like that. Those were the days when people talked about dangerous costumes as in safety,

not whether or not we should celebrate Halloween, or give kids fake weapons, or whatever.

Back to the story: So here I am screaming like a banshee on North Street with my face bleeding

and my broken tooth no where to be found. Sad for me.

Guess what? My mom let me be a ghost (I'm sure it served two purposes: covered my face so the neighbors wouldn't think anyone beat me -- although I'm not sure anyone in the neighborhood missed my screams -- and, it served to cover my face without make up.

As a mom myself, I can almost imagine that my mom felt really terrible for me. I would for one of my kids (I'm the softie, so it rarely takes a broken tooth). Now I know that she was being super cool. Now I know she probably guessed it would be tough for me to eat candy

(hello, it's me! not tough, I can eat around my front tooth).

I remember the next day, going to the dentist and showing up late for Sister Kathleen's third grade class. My son asked me if anyone made fun of me, they didn't. Even if they did, I'm not sure I would have cared,

I got to be a ghost. That was cool.

So, all's well that ends well. 30 years later, I end up with a super cool fabric roll from Robert Kaufman.

Happy Halloween!

PS Don't forget about my give-a-way! It's open until Friday!