Around here, we are kind of obsessed with Halloween. We don’t just sell costumes, we LIVE costumes!!! (I apologize for the excessive use of exclamation points.) We usually wear at least two different costumes each year, and we love to match or follow a theme as a family.
Last year, my then-3-year-old daughter was Cinderella AND a circus clown (not to mention all the many costumes she wears on in-between days). I was a Amy Pond from Doctor Who (with my husband, who was the Eleventh Doctor) … AND a clown.
I have no special affection for – or fear of – clowns. Never expected to dress up as a clown for Halloween. Yet here I was dressing up in polka dots, because it was fun and bright, and it made a great mother-daughter costume with my little girlie, who thinks matching Mama is the coolest thing ever (for now). It was also an excellent excuse to wear rainbow striped knee socks and a fluffy red petticoat.
We went out on the town on Halloween day, trick-or-treating at the public library, getting a free pumpkin face doughnut at Krispy Kreme, eating lunch in costume with the gray kitten, saloon girl and cowgirl in our family.
We inspired a lot of double takes. But everywhere we went, those people who turned and stared also smiled. And that’s what clowns are all about, right? Making people happy.
(And sometimes terrified, but we weren’t that kind of clowns. Probably.)
