The Halloween of 1962

The Halloween of 1962, my dad and his brother were in Lufkin, Texas training for a new job. A color print plant was being built here in Sylacauga, Alabama and while it was being built, several of the first hired people went out to Lufkin to train. It was supposed to be for 6 months, but rocked on for a year and a half before my mother took a leave of absence from her job and we went out to join Daddy. My cousins were already there. Their mother didn’t work and they joined their daddy pretty early on. Once we got there it was only 6 months before the plant here was completed and we all came home.

This year the three of us cousins went trick or treating together.

That’s me in the middle. I’m the witch. And I’d better not hear any jokes about Wanda the Witch! If ya got ’em, keep ’em to yourself. Hrmph. 😉

Now, you have to know that tripping, falling off curbs, loosing our balance, falling off a pebble, knocking down brick walls, falling into yard sale glass, etc. runs in my female line. My mother knocked down a brick retaining wall at a yard sale and tripped over a blanket full of glass stuff at another. I stepped on a pebble in a parking lot and went down cutting my lip and knocking a tooth out of socket. I once went down standing still, by shifting my weight from one foot to the other. Erin and I have each stepped off countless curbs. Apparently the tendency to trip started early for me.

We’d been trick or treating to several houses already and were very excited that one lady gave us popcorn balls. I was excited because my cousins were. I’d never had one and was so looking forward to trying it. I imagined it was like a bunch of Cracker Jacks all stuck together and everyone knows the best Cracker Jacks have the most syrup stuck to them. My older cousin took off running to the next house across the street and her little sister and I were hot on her heels. Only I didn’t make it. I tripped over the curb and what rolled out of my bag? My precious popcorn ball! And nobody offered to share theirs with me! Of all the nerve! Do you know that to this day, I don’t recall ever having a popcorn ball. They bring back a sad, sad memory.

Hope you have a fun Halloween with no popcorn ball mishaps!