My First Costume

Gabby is now the same age I was of the first Halloween I remember. I went to preschool at the Methodist Church in downtown Hot Springs. It was 1982 and I was 4 years old. I showed up to my class only to discover that I (or my mom, but we can't really blame her, she had 4 very young children at home) had forgotten to wear a costume to school that day. Ms. Bundy must have noticed how upset I was feeling. She pulled me aside and told me she thought they had an extra costume in a closet I could borrow. I was so excited. I remember walking with Ms. Bundy to the closet absolutely certain that it was a beautiful princess costume. I was secretly glad I hadn't worn a costume since I just had a feeling this one in the closet would be spectacular.

Ms. Bundy goes into the closet and brings out: a Luke Skywalker costume. It wasn't even Princess Leia. I was very disappointed but it was still a costume. It even had a mask. Ms. Bundy helped me get changed and we went back to class. I was embarrassed that I was dressed up as a boy. The worst part of the day were the recesses and picture time. There was a "big" boy dressed as Darth Vader and another boy dressed as Yoda. Darth Vader had the advantage of me as he had a light saber. Unfortunately, my impromptu costume was not similarly equipped. He kept knocking me on the head with it and insisting we fight. I had to play with Darth Vader and Yoda all day without a light saber to defend myself. The mask didn't exactly fit either so I never saw the blows from Vader coming. I tried using the force but Yoda was unwilling to properly tutor me in its intricacies. And I was dressed as the young Skywalker of Star Wars, not the Jedi of Episode VI so I couldn't technically defeat Darth and stay true to my character. If only there had been an Obi Wan Kanobi, I would have had some help defeating Darth Vader.

I wonder what Gabby's memories will be. She is dressing up as a penguin. She was quite insistant on getting that costumer. She completely rejected the ballerina outfit I made for her. I just hope that there's not a big boy dressed as a polar bear at her school who she has to fight.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!