Halloween Baby

Joey as Buzz Lightyear 2011

Ella as Lion (with Hannah) 2011

The pictures above were taken at the church "Trunk-or-Treat" party on October 22, 2011 of two of my grandchildren.  These are Hannah and Dale's children, Joey, and Ella.

Trunk-or-Treat reminded me that I needed to buy Halloween candy.  As I purchased Halloween candy this morning, I was thinking of the first Halloween after my first child was born.  Molly was born October 3, 1977.  She was born with a lung cyst the size of a baseball, which is very rare and has the same symptoms as a diaphragmatic hernia, so her condition was originally misdiagnosed.  She had two major surgeries before she was 12 hours old, and we weren't sure for quite a while how long she would be with us.  Obviously, she didn't come home from the hospital right away.  As a matter of fact, she had only been home a few days prior to Halloween.

Danny was a very proud father!  He still is a very proud father of all his children!  As I purchased Halloween candy this morning, Danny was busy filling in the cashier on the latest news from one of our children.  Every Tom, Dick, and Harry on the street knows every detail of our lives because Danny will talk to anyone and everyone about his family!

The weather turned very cold for Halloween that year.  Proud Daddy decided he should put a San Francisco Giants baseball cap on our tiny little baby and take her trick-or-treating.  As I said, she had only been out of the hospital a few short days after a life-threatening illness.  Her surgical scars were not even completely healed!  Yeah, right -- trick-or-treating over my dead body!  We had a huge argument over this, and this was one argument that I was not about to lose!

After we both calmed down a bit and were able to discuss the matter in civil tones, the real issue surfaced.  Danny had not really been allowed to be much of a parent to his son, Matt, by his previous marriage -- an issue that continued for many more years to come.  He was afraid that I would be over-protective and not let him be a father to our children.  Apparently, that was his biggest fear.  I was able to ease his fears and let him know that he would be able take his children trick-or-treating and fully participate as a father.  I wouldn't have had it any other way!  Through the years I encouraged him to do all those fun things with his children, and I think I was particularly careful to do so because I realized how important it was for him.  He is a great Dad!  I hope my four children appreciate the great Dad they have.  I'm grateful that Danny was able to get closer to Matt at a later date before Matt died.  I wish for Matt's sake that it had been possible for Danny to be more a part of his life when he was younger.  Matt missed out on so much!

Each year after that, I would help the kids into their costumes and make-up, and Danny would take the kids trick-or-treating while I heated apple cider and got the donuts ready for consumption while I checked the collected candy for safety.

Well, the kids are gone, but now there are grandchildren to enjoy.  Danny is a great grandpa too!