This Is Halloween

Halloween? It’s all kids' stuff. I don’t really do stuff that’s kids' stuff. I used to go out, but I give out candy now.

I loved wearing different costumes—it's gonna be very difficult to tell you which one’s my favorite. I’m not gonna tell you all of them, ‘cause that’s too many... But I’ll tell you a few of what I remember: Captain America, KISS—the mask and all black & white outfit... Oh, and Zorro! I do remember that now—the TV show Zorro with a black mask and a hat and a cape... and, I think... yeah, I had a sword!

Let’s see what else... when Brandon started [dressing up with me] ... We did like Batman and Robin. I was Batman and he was Robin. After that, I dressed up as the Devil and Brandon was the Angel even though we dressed up the wrong way... I was supposed to be good and he was supposed to be bad. I don’t know why it happened that way. But [through laughs] … it’s just fun. He should have been the bad one.

I do remember getting candy! We would drive some and then walk from neighborhood to neighborhood and go to the houses to get it; some to houses of friends that I know and then some that I didn’t know as well. When I said “Trick or Treat,” then I’d get the candy.

My favorite candy? It would be Nestle Crunch. There’s so much though... like Reese’s pieces and M&Ms. Some of the candy I don’t eat... ‘cause I don’t like it. I always like chocolate. I would either give what I didn’t to Brandon or Mom or Dad.

Halloween didn’t ever really get rained out for me or we would go in-between the showers if so. It never rained on my parade.

I love Halloween cupcakes and chocolate M&Ms—the Halloween colors—I like those! Sometimes they have faces on the cupcakes and pumpkins and the Halloween colors. Orange is my favorite Halloween color! Food-wise, everything we really eat is orange and has witches.

We did other things too for Halloween besides getting candy. We had Halloween parties, but I don’t remember that too well. Sometimes whenever we had Halloween... mom had stage shows to costume for, so maybe that’s why I don’t remember the parties too much.

I still watch scary movies and fun movies. Some Halloween movies I watch that I wouldn’t necessarily go to the movie theater for. Generally speaking, I don’t love horror movies that scare me, but if they are fun, then YES! I like to watch those! Beetlejuice is one of them. I also enjoy watching cartoon-like movies (animated) sorta like Coco... but for real ones... it’s Hocus Pocus! Haunted Mansion is another I enjoy. And Monster Squad—the first time I watched this was with Brandon and Kristen and Brooke in the movie theater and I liked it so much that I got it on blu-ray. Casper, the Classic Universal Monsters, the Munsters, Addams Family, Nightmare Before Christmas, I watch all those.

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights! I love going there. You see scary stuff even though I don’t get scared like Mom does. There’s different scary stuff like characters from the movies and stories, places you can walk through [scare-zones] and haunted houses. Halloween the movie had a haunted house one year. And, last year they had Ghostbusters and Killer Klowns from Outerspace.

I used to get scared at Clam [the clown that sat up in my closet] but now, I don’t get scared anymore. Clowns in general don’t scare me because they can be fun and have lots of colors. If it’s plain and dark things then I get a little scared but I realize that it’s only make-believe. Things that are bright, cheery and colorful don’t frighten me though.

When I go through the haunted houses, Brandon pushes me with the wheelchair. People and things tend to jump at me all the time and probably more so than if I walked. I know it’s just make-believe. And it doesn’t really scare me. But when they get in my face, Brandon does get scared. And sometimes I laugh.

Some advice on Halloween?

For the kids: It’s really only make-believe. Don’t worry about being scared. And maybe don’t watch things that are too scary.

For the adults: Only see scary stuff in the daytime and not at nighttime. Take the children trick or treating while it’s still light outside. For those young at heart adults, it’s still ok to keep dressing up! It’s all in good fun!

~ John Joyner