Halloween

Ah, another Halloween come and gone.

As you may have guessed, Boogie's a big advocate of Halloween. The traditionalists and the hippies can have Christmas and Arbor day all they want. I'll stick to a holiday with a little hair on it's chest, thank you very much. And Halloween, of course, has all the elements that keep a guy like me smiling. Dark undertones mixed with the changing of the leaves, the unknowing sense of whether you will be treated with candy and high fives, or tricked with cruel pranks and harsh jokes that are funny for the rest of us. All of it set to a soundtrack that is both creepy and unnerving. This is a holiday for the kids and the kid in all of us that longs for just a few hours, to be the things we never get to be. Many slap on the pirate garb or those superhero outfits you just had to have when they showed up on eBay. Others wander the path of dementia with gory-looking latex and fake bloods. And an even rarer breed like to mix a little sexual connotation with their candy. These are the things that if you wore on any other day, you'd be locked up, laughed at or killed. But don these attires on Halloween, and you can be a legend.

I admit, I'm not actively in Halloween as much as I should be. I rarely am in the party scene and I almost never get into costume. Perhaps it stems from a childhood where Halloween was made more complicated than it needed to be, or a lack of comfort with my identity as a whole, or maybe it's the fact that I spend most of my days bouncing between my mild-mannered persona and this particular alter ego, that I have no need for a day of escapism. Either way, I don't participate in the craziness so much.

But that doesn't mean I'm not into it. There's nothing I enjoy more than to walk around on a Hallow's night watching perfectly normal people pretending to be stuff.

My favorite type of person in the world is the one who truly gets into their costume. And by get into it, I don't mean they spend a lot of time creating it or adding details to it (although this is admittedly very cool as well.) No, my interest lies in those people who truly believe in what they're wearing. For example, I stopped by my local media store and bumped into an individual who donned a white beard and horned rimmed glasses. He called himself the "Gaming Wizard" and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he meant it. He was so die hard in his dedication to this apparel, that I couldn't help but smile. If I had the sort of strength and determination about anything in my life as this guy had about his Halloween costume, I'd be near unstoppable.

Not long after that, while collecting some last minute Halloween grub, I met a woman at the checkout counter in a full body plush frog costume, complete with green face paint. She walked around that store with those oversized feet, back straight and head held high. Clearly, she had no shame in this. When I complimented her on her outfit, she simply nodded and said "I like green." Now that's resolve people!

I admire these folks, and anyone like them. It takes a certain, special kind of youthful optimism to let yourself play. And knowing that everyone else out there is living their fantasy for 24 hours, even if it is just tights and makeup, is a wonderful thing. And when I see these individuals, dedicated to their costumes and their persona's, part of me will always hope for them that at some point during their Halloween, that costume will truly let them escape, mind body and soul. That through customers, hassles, and the day to day grind they can let themselves go enough to be their costume, and maybe for one second out of the day, they can truly feel like Superman.

I hope you all had a happy one.