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October 31, 2007
I needed the Spiderman web
And now, as promised, the annual Halloween entry. Although it might be in a different shade of the holiday's spirit...
I was reminded today of the need to have the presence of children in one's life, producing feelings akin to what I expressed in a Setonian article at one point last year (which I can't seem to locate on the paper's blog at the moment since my writer's profile isn't displaying). There are times we need a loud, clear reminder of some of the greatest parts of life. At times, this is a reminder only a child can send... specifically, in this season, children dressed as fun, creative, imaginative creatures/super heroes/princesses/what have you.
I stopped by the Hill today, and I got to see the kindergarten and CDC students parading about in their brightly colored, sometimes scary, always adorable costumes. Sure, I knew today was Halloween. Yes, I recall years past when the little ones scampered from door to door on campus collecting sweets. For some reason, though, the two facts never came together for me until I saw my first Spiderman, princess, Transformer, Tinkerbell, butterfly, black cat, and cowboy lined up in the hallway.
My expression was the same that people have when they see the little flower girl coming down the aisle at a wedding--the collective "awww," uttered aloud or mentally silenced, has the power to corral the attention of any passers-by. My "awww" is generally followed by comments, on this occasion they were in admiration of whatever costumes the children were wearing. Cuteness is necessary, in my opinion, to remind us all that the world isn't really such a bad place (because most of the time, and I'm guilty of this too, we're busy focusing on unpleasant things rather than what we ought to be grateful for). Something cute has the power to transport us to a time when we, ourselves, may have been considered cute (along the same lines of childishness and innocence).
This evening I got to help my parents pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. I haven't had the opportunity to do this for several years now. Of course a similar barrage of colorful characters were making their way from house to house. One little Spiderman, though, really made my night. He was about 4 years old, and his costume was one of the new ones that all the little boys seemed to have with the puffy super hero muscles. Walking up to our house, he began "shooting webs," posing his fingers like Spidey does to cast, attach, and swing from the adhesive string.
My father pretended like he was hit with the webs, giving a fake yell and freezing his arms like he was wrapped up. The kid really got into it. He kept shooting his imaginary webs at my dad, and dad played along to the point that he pretended his mouth had been webbed shut. My mother and I sat and laughed, sometimes feigning horror at the webs, but mostly trying not to get hysterical.
Spiderman then aimed his webs at me. I was holding the candy bowl, so this was precarious business for the masked man. I yelled that he would have to pick out his own candy since my hands were webbed up. Laughing ensued--his parents were laughing, my parents were laughing, and I was laughing with Spiderman as he grabbed a Tootsie Pop. He shot webs as he walked away, too, making the little "pschew!" noise of the matter shooting from his wrists.
What wonderful imagination. I think that's what I miss most about Halloween sometimes. I've noticed that some kids don't get into it as much as my siblings and I did. It makes me feel bad for kids who will never have more imagination than television and video games permit. It also makes me thankful that my background is generally a literate one, only most recently being strongly infiltrated by a couple video games and regular TV shows.
More, though, seeing imagination expressed by little ones makes me hope that I never lose that about myself. If I ever do, I hope I see another Spiderman shooting imaginary webs at my dad...
Posted by KarissaKilgore at October 31, 2007 9:02 PM
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