हीलिंग रैन

It has been a very emotional week having to deal with the combination of my uncle's death and the absolute insanity of Halloween at Little Wound.

First, I should note that I despise Halloween. My family has not celebrated it for years and I have grown to dislike it more and more. The disgusting horror films, the vandalism, the raunchy costumes--it all depresses me. So, when I found out that all of Friday was dedicated to Halloween rather than reading and writing, I was less than excited.

It should come as no surprise then that Friday was one of the longest days of my life. Yes, it was cute to see all the little kids in their costumes, but some of them were dressed in horrifying attire. Seeming my babies dressed as demons and Chucky dolls was disturbing.

They day was absolute chaos. There was a two hour costume contest followed by the candy trail. The school buys hundreds of dollars worth of candy and distributes it to the kid (and we wonder why diabetes in so high). Along the way, the kids enter different parts of the school, some of which have been transformed into "spook houses." The most infamous spook house around is located in the school bus garage. Most of my students refused to go in. A handful decided to brave the journey. It was horrible. I didn't think it was a bit scary, but my children were nearly hysterical with fear--sobbing. It's because of the trashy horror movies they watch. They have unnatural fears of chainsaws, clowns, dolls, etc. Every day items become objects of terror because of movies they watch. I decided then and there that I would never take my children into a spook house again.

By the end of the day, I was worn out. I would rather teach ten hour days than have another chaos-filled day like this last Friday. Therefore, I was in no mood at the end of the day to cater to trick-or-treaters the whole night. Thankfully, my reprieve came in the form of a very sick student of mine. She threw up on the gym floor that day somewhere between the first and second grade costume parade. She went home soon after. However, I took care of her in the evening while the six other children in her family went trick-or-treating. She only threw up on the floor once, so we had a good time. When she left, I spent the rest of the night hiding out waiting for the kids to go home. I returned to my house late that night, surviving my first Kyle Halloween.