“Trick or treat!!” If these three words didn’t instantly bring a smile to your face, then I suggest you spend time reminiscing on past Halloween memories. As a child, Halloween was always the best part of fall. I never understood why pumpkin carving, free candy, and pretending to be someone you have always wanted to be for one night was so under appreciated. As I look back, I wish I wouldn’t have taken those exciting, haunted, candy-filled Halloween nights for granted.

Halloween festivities usually started with pumpkin carving. My family would get our “paint clothes” on and gather around the table itching with excitement. We would watch carefully as my dad cut the top of the pumpkin off, and then dive in as quickly as possible. It would take us a matter of minutes before we were separating the seeds from the guts. The best part came next: deciding which face your pumpkin would take on. Since the whole neighborhood would see your pumpkin, it had to be the best. When did we become too old for this intense excitement of a simple task? When did we become too old to not take part in a family tradition? When did we start getting mad at our parents, rather than admiring them for being able to do the tasks that we were not yet able to do?

Next came each child’s favorite part of the night; dressing up and trick or treating. As a child, I would plan out my costume for weeks. I had to be the perfect person or thing every single year. For one night, we could finally be anyone or anything we wanted. After getting dressed up in costumes, the time had come for candy. If your family is like mine, trick or treating was somewhat of a group effort. My mom would always take the task of handing out candy while my dad took my siblings and me around our entire neighborhood. In my child eyes, the most scandalous thing I could ever do was take two pieces of candy instead of one when the sign clearly said, “Please take one only.” By the time we circled the entire neighborhood, my siblings and I were tired from walking and carrying around a five pound candy bucket all night. When we reached home, we were all ready for bed. We refused to escape to our bedrooms before sneaking at least ten pieces of candy, even though my mom told us multiple times we would get a stomachache. When did we stop believing we could- be anything we wanted to be? What happened to make us not want to take laps around the neighborhood with our families? When did the “taking more candy than allowed” act become staying out late and lying to our parents?

By reflecting on Halloween this fall, I have realized that we should not let go of our former Halloween-selves. We should still get excited about the little things, like being gathered around the bonfire on a brisk fall night with your tight knit group of friends. We should still value our families everyday and spend as much time as possible with them, like carving pumpkins with them this year as a family throwback. We should still admire our parents for doing the things for us that we cannot do ourselves, like how they are willing to let us jump in the leaf pile and then rake it all back up for us. We should still believe we can be anything we want to be, like the Superman man costume that can truly solve everything. We should still feel bad when we take other’s things, like taking your siblings’ bag of candy when they finally tire out from trick-or-treating. We should still be those Halloween children.