My mother was recently promoted from elementary school teacher...to college professor of elementary school teachers.
This is all I hear about (and rightfully so).
My mother is also responsible for scaring the crap outta kids every Halloween.
Yes...I grew up in "THAT" house.
You know the house that people stand at the sidewalk scared to go further because the candy can in no way be worth it.
Every day of the year our house had a billion kids running in and out of it...except on Halloween.
On Halloween my mother and her friends would transform the house into the creepiest house in the neighborhood. This includes gluing fake faces and hands to their own hands and face, draping the house in black, and blaring the craziest music through every speaker in the place. My father dresses up as a werewolf and hides waiting to chase kids through the yard, and my brother always wore black and would lay flat until an unsuspecting kid would attempt to go in for the candy. Then he would jump up and ask where they thought they were going and undoubtedly they would run as fast as they could in whichever direction they happened to be in.
This was their tradition...I always would dress in cute costumes or ones that I found especially clever.
I would go trick or treating and approach my house with bags of candy only to find almost as much still in my mom’s candy dish...or bags lost from scared kids up and down the sidewalk.
I'd plop down after the festivities and listen to the stories of scared kids, teenagers, and adults...while chewing on whatever was the candy of the night.
Things are still the same in the Allan house...
I always call my mom around this time every year and ask about the new additions...sometimes she breaths fire..or something crazy like that...
Anyways..I called her tonight and she answered in an unusual tone. Normally she's so hyped I can barely talk to her, this time she was calm and collected.
I asked her if she was getting ready and she said with a sigh...
"No.
I have to teach tonight.
Someone else in the neighborhood is going to be a witch for me this year."

This was said with such sadness and defeat that all I could do was say "huh".

Everything has a price I guess.