Halloween: Twix or Treat

On Halloween night, we joined our friend Andrea (who lives on the other side of the neighborhood) and her two kids (Murphy and Glenn) plus another set of friends and their daughter Genevieve.  We had pizza (I could eat it!) and salad (not allowed) and I made apple crisp, then we headed out to trick or treat for an hour or so.  I was pretty tired and my back hurt for some unknown reason, but I made it.  A month ago I didn't think it would be possible for me to go trick-or-treating with the kids, so I was thrilled to at least be able to go with them.

After Andrea's, we headed back to the cul-de-sac next to ours where they have a big potluck supper and bonfire with all the neighbors.  Our kids had a lot of fun playing in the fire with the other kids.

***

I sometimes wonder if my kids love me--especially lately since I've been so absent from their lives and in the months of illness before my surgery, generally grumpy. Even before my slow recession from their lives, for Simon, I ranked somewhere below the cat, grandpa, and a half-dead cicada.  But on Halloween night, it became clear that the mother-child bonds had not completely eroded. The kids know that my favorite candy bar is Twix, and so every time they got one while trick-or-treating, they would run jubilantly back to me with it in their hand and profess their love: "I got you a Twix, Mom! Your favorite!" When neighbors presented them with a bowl of candy bars to choose from, they would always pick a Twix. When I checked their candy bags after the haul the extent of their love became clear: every single full-sized candy bar was a Twix.

The next morning, I asked Alice how much of her candy I should eat while she was at school. She decided I could have three treats and went and picked them out for me:

I love my kids so much.

(I did not actually eat any of these giant Twix bars, though.)