Why my job's the greatest this time of year.

I must take a moment to express some Halloween hillarity. I am lucky enough to spend my Halloween day every year in a junior high. I cannot express fully in words what a great time this can be. At this point in the maturity process school parties are passe, trick or treating is undefined, and boy-girl parties are nothing but awkward. Nonetheless these pre-pubescents still love the holiday. Interesting. On paper it seems like misery, but they don't know that yet. Instead, as an outsider I can look and laugh.

Often I ask the question to groups of kids, "Hey, what do really cool 14-year-olds like yourself do for Halloween?" Here are some responses from today:

"Ummmmm." This came from a boy in bat wings.

"I don't know, probably blow up some pumpkins or something." Wow, me too.

"My mom has a rule about trick or treating past 12." Do I sense some sadness about the topic?

"Watch a movie." Followed by about 2 minutes of giggling.

Another great part about the day, is getting to see the costumes. The halls are littered with parent humor, ill-fitting pimp suits, and wings of every creature. I often imagine that they left the house with a degree of confidence, probably fostered by a mother telling them they looked adorable. The second they walk through the doors that confidence has diminished to nothing. They are walking with heads down at a pretty brisk rate. This was communicated nicely today by a 4'5" 7th grader dressed as a homeless person carrying a sign that read, "Will work for food." Apparently this little girl was not so sure of her drawn-in beard and she was bee-lining towards the bathroom. Of course, I was also involved in a traffic jam caused by a young lady with an 8' wingspan. Eyes were being taken out at a very fast rate. Embarrassing. And, needless to say I always get a kick out of the cross-dressers. However, my favorite costume of the day was worn by the biggest tom boy in school. She came as a beauty pageant contestant. I laughed my head off.

A little middle school fun, on quite possibly my favorite holiday.