A Few Tricks, But No Treats

Each season has it’s own distinctive features: crisp air, burnt orange colored leaves, these are the tell tale signs that it is Fall in New England. Fall is my favorite season, and ok, perhaps I’m a closet leaf peeper but I do love taking a drive and seeing how the foliage has begun to change color. One of my favorite photos of me as a child was taken when I was around the age of 2 and I’m laying in a pile of leaves the same color as my hair. Perhaps fall is the season for redheads, if nothing else it provides the perfect complementing backdrop for us.

Fall also means Halloween – one of my favorite holidays. Halloween is a time to give girls the get out of jail free card to be out in public dressed in as little clothing as possible and not run the risk of being shunned from decent society. I have always been a fan of dressing up; I think I’m an actress at heart (minus the talent); there is something so appealing in being able to slip in to a character unlike oneself for a while. I saw my costume this year in a store window and had to try it on, it was perfect and I couldn’t wait to wear it out.

My friends and I planned on hitting up one of our regular haunts because they were having a Halloween party. There were some great costumes there, and it was enjoyable to walk around and have people recognize whom I dressed up as. At one point a woman dressed as Dorothy made eye contact with me, pointed, smiled, and yelled “Alice!” From there we bounced to another bar so we could meet up with other friends and dance the remainder of the night away. It was there that I realized I’m old.

I gave the bouncer my money and walked in to a swarm of grown ups trying to mingle with the coeds in a vain attempt at clinging to their younger years while the coeds were too busy getting drunk and looking for a hook up to notice the people who could be their parents watching them. The place was hot, further encouraging the shedding of layers of clothing; but what was worse was the smell – a cross between a dirty bathroom at a truck stop and a locker room. Sounds like a great place right? At 26 years of age this should still be my stomping ground yet I felt like a square block being forced in to a round hole by a toddler not understanding that the two do not belong together.

So I danced, biding my time until the lights would turn on shocking people back in to reality and perhaps embarrassment once the harsh light showed them that the person they’ve been flirting with all night is more beast than prince(ss). I began to survey the room like I always do in a crowded place, looking for familiar faces and taking in how other people are interacting. I don’t like crowds; people make me nervous especially social situations like bars where you have no personal space. It takes me awhile to feel comfortable and I much prefer being the wallflower than the center of attention as much as that may go against my only child ways.

What struck me was the attire some women were in, particularly a cowgirl who chose to wear chaps with only a pair of navy boy shorts with white stars on them underneath. Yes, that’s correct… she essentially was at a bar in her underwear – isn’t that a recurring nightmare for some people? What topped it off was her stripper like dancing that she continued to do with her friends and a male cowboy. Now I’m all for showing cleavage and wearing pants than show off my butt – yet parading around in a bar with my butt cheeks hanging out is going too far. Perhaps she took a wrong turn on her way to Mark’s Showplace and ended up there, or perhaps she’s just a slut. Her attire and antics made me feel so old though, along with causing me to be slightly uncomfortable with her dancing near me.

I did have an amusing moment when heading to get a drink at the first bar I ran into a couple I dog sit for… yes, now they’ve seen me running around a bar in a Halloween costume. :-) It was nice though, I’ve dog sat for them for years but haven’t actually seen them for I think around two years, we talk via phone and email and I know the code for their garage so there hasn’t been a need for face-to-face interaction. They’re cool people who greatly deserve to be parents, it’s a shame that the adoption process is depriving them of that as they enter in to year two of trying to adopt – but that’s an aside.

In the end the night didn’t go as I had hoped, it was an ok time but nowhere near an amazing night. I think I looked hot as Alice but there were no treats at the end of the night for this girl. I partially feel too old to be hitting the bar scene in a costume as the 21 year olds are out in fashion and acting in ways that shock me. However, I still wish that Halloween came more than once a year so I might just have to start throwing a costume party or two during the year just for fun.