Tonight, Monkey, you had your last Halloween.
I don’t mean you last last, just the last one being at home as a … well, as my child. I, by and large, avoided being around because you had your friends over and it was about them, not your family.
And that’s a good thing, I think. When I was your age – well, in my final year of high school, anyway – I had my “last” Halloween with my friends, all 11 of us, setting up a haunted house-sort of thing at Linda’s. We were dressed up, spooky, we didn’t go trick-or-treating – the kids came to us.
This is mostly what you did last year, too. You could have been outside, but it was a bit chilly for it.
Next year will be the really big change for you, though. Assuming you go to university – that process is about to start – you’ll be going to parties or decorating dorm rooms, something with your roommates/housemates/friends/classmates/whatever. For me, it’ll just be a story, I won’t be able to witness it.
It’s been hard this last little while, watching you grow beyond your mother and I. You are your own person, not just in words but in actions. I don’t want to say “finally”, but it’s been a long road for you, probably because we’ve never really been able to let go.
In less than a year, that’s precisely what we’ll have to do. And it’s going to be a shock. I’m not even sure I can truly comprehend it at this point.
I hope you had fun, though. Certainly it sounded that way (yes, of course I listened). Tomorrow is November and another challenge. But, at least for tonight, you’re still my little kid who loves Halloween.
