Halloween Reflections
Halloween is over and we are moving on into November. Before we completely forget about October 31st I would like to share some reflections about our experience this year...
We do not have a lot of money this year to be spending on expensive Halloween costumes. I hate the pressure to buy your child the trendiest costume at $45 each or more, that will probably never see the light of day again once trick or treating is over.
This year after many ideas and much consideration, I encouraged my daughter to use something she already had as her costume. Who better to pretend to be for a day than a real life superhero-Colin Kaepernick? After a little convincing and slight disappointment to not get a store bought costume my daughter conceded. So I supported her in the best way I knew how. If she was gonna be Kaepernick, I was gonna be the NFL boycott.
While me and my daughters were talking about Kaepernick and who he was and what he stood for we had some great conversations and I felt good about keeping my daughter informed about what is going on in the world.
And guess what? None of this cost me anything! I spent exactly $0 on Halloween this year. I was pretty proud of myself! It made me want to not ever buy a Halloween costume ever again. For someone who doesn't pride themselves on being especially crafty, I felt good about putting our outfits together.
I thought we were pretty clever and even more I was proud to be making a positive statement at the same time. When we showed up to my daughter's school for their Halloween parade I quickly realized that we were some of the only ones that had put together our own costumes. I noticed this when we were trick or treating this year as well. The creativity of the costumes out there seems to have gone down a lot and there were a lot of store bought costumes parading around everywhere. I was proud of us for thinking outside of the box in a world full of carbon copies.
Honestly I thought there were gonna be a bunch of Kaepernicks running around this year, but we were actually the only ones we saw. All the teachers at Satya's school really appreciated our costumes and they were not the only ones. We got lots of cheers from parents on the street during trick-or-treating. People were yelling out "I'm with Kap!" and "Take a knee" as we walked by. People passing out candy gave Satya extra candy for her costume too! All the positive feedback made Satya really feel great about her costume choice and it was the one brief moment in history where I could say "Told ya so-better listen to your momma!" =-)
We got a lot of likes on Instagram for our costumes but on the flip side almost 40 people unfollowed me. I was a little surprised but at the same time thank you to those that unfollowed me. Because if you don't stand with Kap, or protest police brutality, or believe in equal rights for Black people than I do not want those type of followers anyways.
Here are our take away lessons from our Halloween experience this year...
1) Don't be afraid to think outside of the box.
2) In a world full of store bought carbon copies, it is best to be an original.
3) The best things in life are free!
4) Never be afraid to stand up for what you believe!
5) Voice your opinion even if it makes you unpopular, those who feel your message will support you and maybe those who don't will at least have something to think about.
6) Real life superheores don't wear capes but they are way funner to emulate than fictional saviors.
7) Listen to your momma- she's always right, lol! (shout out to my mom)
