The Early Days of "Hiking" the 'Hood

My earliest Halloween costume memory is as a pumpkin; a costume pattern which Mom would've sewn for us kids to wear & I was next in line. I feel that the pumpkin costume is a frequent & expected one for babes up & through the toddler years. Next, thanks to our family photo album (remember this post?) I've reminisced & been reminded that I wore one of these, in fabric form 😂, while in the First Grade.

Dad was the parent who walked with us kids through our neighborhood, pillowcases in tow as we'd have these in hand with which to walk up each of our neighborhood's front walks.

Mom was the parent who hung back & answered the doorbell when the rest of the neighborhood kids made their way up our front walkway. Mom definitely wasn't the type to sit in a chair in the front yard & await the kids in their costumes. For that matter our family also wasn't one to just leave a big basket of candy on a table or ledge right outside the front door where the neighborhood kids could just "help themselves". She'd have said, "Make 'em work for their candy bars; they can walk all the way to my front door & ring the bell. I'll be waiting for them inside."

She'd have said this while taking care of something, maybe straightening up from dinner - which would have definitely been stew. Apparently us kids were slow to eat our stew so Mom & Dad took to meal planning stew's first arrival of the season on a night when we'd be bound & determined to eat it a bit faster than we would any other night.

My first memories, sans family photo albums, are of these. Although I'd have worn none of these, rather I'd have had the workings of this or these. As the years continued on, &, for some reason, though I'd never felt like much of one, I'd still ultimately decide on wearing a princess costume annually. This continued on for about a handful of years. I didn't get a new costume each year, rather Mom would alter it (not in an I'm-growing-out-of-it sort of way either) in so that it would be a different version of a princess. I remember an early accessory I had was a wand with a star at the end to carry. This was cumbersome (what with carrying this alongside heavily weighed down by the processed sugar inside 😂). Mom would've updated this costume to keep those attributes which instilled the "princess-y-ness" about it, yet made it reasonable for a walk [read: hike for a kid in a costume with stuff] around the neighborhood.

As the years grew on & we considered whether Dad needed to come on his "evening walk" with us (while nodding to all the other dads out on the street too 😁), we'd begun considering more "reasonable" costumes. We'd joke about going as "us - yesterday" (any ordinary outfit which we might've been wearing recently), or "us - while sleeping" (our pajamas), "us - as working stiffs" (we'd put on our best version of white collar workers attire, briefcase-type item in hand).

All of these possibilities were in the name of convenience while walking the 'hood & what likely footwear we could manage that would "flow" with our costume while also being reasonable for the walk/hike. This was hiking because we did live in a neighborhood filled with lots of hills. Mix this with darkness on a school night where lots of other kids were out-n-about & crawling up front walkways & a simple neighborhood walk instantly becomes the definition of a hike.

What might've been the first year we went around the neighborhood without Dad there's a chance I was coming down with something; that I was getting sick. We went down the hill at the other end of our section of street to a flat grade that continued on for dozens of houses. Then we began an uphill. A street with a cul-de-sac at its end was right at this point. I needed a break. My brother suggested I wait "right there" & he'd walk the street quickly & be right back. No matter how much of a frustrating kid sister I ever might've been, this was likely our very first "him & me" on our own outside the house where we needed to make sure the other was as safe & "okay" as absolutely possible.

I definitely felt safe. I don't remember much of those minutes. The weather was fine & reasonable & not too many other kids came on by, although it wasn't silent & eerie either; it just was. 

He reappeared what seemed to be a few minutes later, & we continued on up that hill. I was fine the rest of the way & we didn't cut out from any of what our usual route would've been. We returned back to the house & sorted through our sacks with Mom. He explained the story of walking the cul-de-sac on his own & mentioned a few pieces of candy he'd gotten on that particular street.

What I'd later learn was that, rather than give "mini" sizes of candy, a number of houses on that street gave out regular sized candy bars. I didn't get any of those & therefore we'd no duplicates of them, yet when I'd reached for a piece of candy a few times I'd happened to take these regular sized pieces (completely unknowingly). He was generous & understanding. I'd like to think he remembered the look on my face & my honesty of needing to break for a moment while letting him be on his own & not saying something like, "No, you've got to stay with me." emphatically. That moment on the street, the situation, was a growing one for the both of us.

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