The Best Halloween Costume

The best Halloween costume that either of my kids ever had was made by my friend who I’ll call “Jean.“ She lived across the street from me and had a baby girl six weeks after I gave birth to my son. We were both new mothers and formed a bond that should have lasted forever.
I have countless photos of my son as a baby and many of them include Jean’s daughter. There is a photo I keep in a scrapbook showing Jean and I bundled up in winter clothes standing behind our children, snug in their strollers going to the park. There is another photo of the two babies when they first learned to crawl. Many photos of our babies turning into little kids.
It was the third Halloween for the kids, the first being pretty non-existent as they were newborns and the second with the kids trick or treating to a few houses, my son with a store bought costume -he was a devil that year! No, really, he was dressed as a little devil, that was what they had in the store. But for the third Halloween, Jean offered to make his costume.
She outdid herself that year that the kids first started to grasp the notion of Halloween and the idea that this day is special and can be a lot of fun for kids. The costume she made for my son was that of Mickey Mouse and my mother still talks about it to this day. It was very well done, a professional quality costume. And to make it even cuter, she dressed her daughter up as Minnie. We had a ball taking the kids out trick or treating and the neighbors just loved them but it was the last year that I would be able to get my son into a costume like that.
We moved not too long after my son’s third Halloween. Jean and I both gave birth to new baby girls and life led us in different directions although the internet allows us to keep in touch. On my son’s fourth Halloween, he refused to wear a “baby” costume and wanted to be a turtle. So, without Jean, I tied some colored cloth around each of his arms and legs over his green sweatshirt and pants and he was that red Ninja Turtle whose name escapes me. And after that it was Dracula. Then just a mask. Then no Halloween costume at all unless you count a last year when he had to dress up for some party and simply put on a tie and went as that guy from “The Office.”
That Halloween is close to my heart as the last time my first baby was a baby and not a little boy. And thanks to Jean, it was complete with the greatest costume made by a master seamstress and the greatest friend a new mom ever had. Thanks, Jean, for being such a good friend and giving me that gift.