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"They&amp;#039;re standing at the door, ready to go. Gone are the days of princess gowns and crowns (though, to be fair, she only let me ever dress her as a princess once, and it had to be medieval looking, with no frills or &amp;quot;puffy stuff&amp;quot; and absolutely NO PINK), gone are the fuzzy, footed costumes, and gone is their need to even have an adult present as they walk the neighborhood. I&amp;#039;ve watched her go from Rapunzel to a she-devil, from Coraline to not being able to find a costume that I&amp;#039;d be comfortable seeing my twelve year old in. I&amp;#039;ve watched him go from a skunk to Handy Manny, from Harry Potter to puzzling over which Avenger he most wants to be this year. Every Halloween, their childhood marches by wearing brightly colored clothes and echoing with their laughter down the street. I can&amp;#039;t help but wonder: What am I going to do when I&amp;#039;m here all alone, handing out candy? How bittersweet will it be, when they&amp;#039;re grown adults and wearing normal clothes, maybe miles away, living their own lives as I welcome children to the door that don&amp;#039;t sit in a classroom next to them?  So tonight, for just a little while, they bask in the candy and I bask in the memories. I still see the princess even though she&amp;#039;d slug me for ever calling her that. I still see the little boy who had a hard time saying &amp;quot;thank you&amp;quot; because he was missing his two front teeth that year. They&amp;#039;re still in there, and they always will be for me. And in years to come, I&amp;#039;ll see them in all the faces and costumes that come to my door, and I&amp;#039;ll be so very grateful for the memories. Have a safe and very happy Halloween, everyone.       [Follow Ellie on Twitter and Facebook] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/relationships/dating-marriage/a48555/ghosts-of-halloween-past/?click=smart&kw=ist&src=smart&mag=WDY&link=-SMT-WDY>