Halloween Story

Today is my anniversary. Twenty-one years ago on Halloween, we closed escrow on our home and moved in. I remember standing in our new living room surrounded by more than 100 big boxes that the movers’ had just dropped off. My god, how would we find homes for all our stuff?

I started packing for the move, certain that I was going to be organized. I dutifully marked each box for its ultimate destination (kitchen, living room, bedroom #1, etc.). However, after the twentieth box, I started to panic. The movers were due within a couple of hours and we were not even close to being finished. I just started to fill boxes in a rushed manner. I put them in different locations. I planned to mark each box after all the packing was done.

HA! That plan failed miserably because the movers showed up early. Fortunately, the movers helped me to tape each box shut. Then they loaded the truck while we continued to fill other boxes. When we arrived at the new house, all unmarked boxes had to be put in the living room.

The current crisis was because the date was Halloween and it was 4 PM. I worried about the Halloween trick-or-treaters. I bought some candy, but could not remember which box I had packed them in. My husband said that we should just hand out quarters. Not a bad idea, but we did not have many coins between us. What should we do? I did not want to start out in a new neighborhood as the tightwad who did not hand out candy.

Maybe, I should just dim the light and pretend no one was there.

At 5:30 PM, we decided to go for a long, leisurely dinner. When we got home, all the trick-or-treaters had gone home.