It's hard to imagine that the leaves outside are already changing colors and falling on the ground. Where has the time gone? September has passed and October has begun, and with it comes the promise of another fun-filled season. As pumpkins are picked and Halloween costumes are designed, my memory returns to what it was like to be a little kid again.
Jeffrey couldn't have been more than four when he bounced around as "Tigger" that year. Brad scared everyone as a mummy wrapped in cloth, and my mom had me be a sunflower. Dressed in a green sweat suit and with a big cardboard sunflower around my face, we headed off to go trick or treating. As per usual, it was rainy and cold, but we went first to the place we always did — my nana's.
Walking in, she handed us our candy, followed quickly by our own little "special bags," which always contained some extra gifts. Brad and I lugged around our pillow cases and were anxious to leave, because by then, trick or treat was already a little over, and it was time to fill our bags. By the time I was in fourth grade, I knew all the best houses in town, and passed the knowledge onto Brad, who in turn would tell Jeffrey when he was old enough to run ahead. For now though, Jeffrey sat behind in our neighbors wagon, waiting with all of the little kids to run from house to house, carefully watched by all the parents.
Those were the good old days, weren't they? I thought. That picture from that Halloween fell out of a pile and onto my lap a few days ago, while I was going through my drawers. I picked it up and smiled, looking back in time to a moment where my brothers and I were so carefree, all of us sitting on the couch dressed up and ready to go.
Life back then was so easy, and it's hard to remember the last time any of us had a day when the biggest concern on our minds was who could fill their pillow case more, and who could get the most M&M's.
It's memories like those that remind me of lucky we are to live in the community we do. As little kids, we all grew up with families and friends who took care of us, loved us and always had our best interests in mind. Our teachers, parents, and people in our school districts always strived to make sure that each and every one of us was taken care of, and they worked hard to provide us with good childhood memories that would last us a lifetime. They made sure that we would have moments to look back on and smile, and moments that we could recall with happiness and gratitude. They did a great job.
Sometimes it feels like the older we get, the harder life gets. But then again, life is what you make it. We might not be running around trying to scrounge up the best candy in town anymore, but we have those fond memories to look back on, and those can never be taken away.
As this Halloween comes, our memories will flood back in our minds, and that's a gift that we have been given. We have the power to control our future, to love our past and to let it shape who we are. We have the power to get lost in our happy memories, and most of all, we have the power to share and give happy memories to other little kids, who really will be running around town in search of the best candy this year.
So splurge on the extra big candy bars this Halloween, because they'll remember, memories are one of the very best parts of life, and they deserve the happiest ones.
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Ashley Chamberlain, a 2005 Pinkerton Academy graduate, is a senior at UNH. She is in her fifth year as a Derry News columnist and intern.
