This morning has all the qualities of a good (horrific) hangover:
Regret: (WHY did we let the kids stay up so late? They’re tired and whiny and not fit to attend school.)
Remembering: (Wow. Last night was really fun. Once-a-year kind of fun when our kids can run like lunatics all over our neighborhood bringing in pounds (POUNDS!) of candy.)
Fatigue: (See regret. And all that running from house to house. And dancing at the neighborhood party. Oh, and limbo. And the relay races.)
Headaches and Stomachaches: (see fatigue…and the POUNDS of candy.) Even though our kids only ate one piece apiece, there was the neighborhood party, with dessert and all variety of “party food.” One neighbor hands out cans of Sprite, a treat even Catie rarely has. Even though Nate isn’t really drinking Coke in this picture (M is trying to distract him from CRAWLING on the concrete where any number of gremlin and goblin and witch boots would step on him), but even this little dragon had cookies and got to bed way too late.
So, all this hangover talk is just to say that last night was really fun.
These moments of watching our kids in complete childhood joy always come unexpectedly. One minute they’re whining about the itchiness of their costumes (Sam), and about not being able to crawl around on the street (Nate), and why they can’t stay out ALL NIGHT (Catie), and the need to comb their hair (Elisabeth), and M and I are about to call the whole thing off.
The next minute? Ecstasy. Reserved Elisabeth running as fast as her little legs will carry her from house to house, screaming with laughter. Sam, breathless, telling us about GROWN UPS WEARING COSTUMES! and HOUSES WITH PRETEND SMOKE! and Catie running back from her pack of 20 friends to make sure that I was also having fun.
And all the work and whining and questioning about why we’re breaking their normal routine for such shenanigans makes sense. These are the memories that are worth their weight in pounds of candy.
Well, at least the memories that we can actually recall from everything that happened last night.
Just like a real hangover.
