Like Thanksgiving, Valentines Day, Easter, and birthdays, Halloween is another special day that the world celebrates with food! How do you celebrate when you cant have food? Why trick-or-treat when you cant enjoy the treats?
There is a local dents office by us, actually a few, that host an event the day after halloween. Kids are welcome to bring in all the candy they've collected, and the dentist will buy it from them based on weight! The candy is then usually mailed off to the troops, and each kid walks away with a couple dollars. For Gabriel, this is AWESOME! Last Halloween, Uncle Kyle was in Afganistan, so Gabriel was excited to hear where the candy was being sent to. I think he believed it was sent straight to Uncle Kyle. Last year, he was very content with his selection from the dollar store, instead of candy and sweets.
I tried to make the day special- I bought tickets to take Gabriel to see Disney on Ice. Before I told him about our plans, I made phone call and found out that they see peanuts are the arena. No Disney on Ice for us!
Im not sure if he will be as happy with our plan this year. Gabriel is already asking me which houses will pass out candy that he can have. I always answer, "none." There is no candy around that Gabriel can have, or ever will be able to have, and I like to think that's ok. There are so many more things to enjoy in life. About 360 days out of the year, Gabriel thinks it's ok too. He knows there is no candy for him, and is comfortable with that. On the few days where the rest of the world is celebrating around candy, he questions it all over again.
Im sure today he will ask me to read ingredients on tons of packages, and he will ask me where is the candy that he can have. He might get upset, and feel like maybe its not fair. But by tomorrow, he will be content, and comfortable with no candy all over again- maybe just until Thanksgiving.
I am so glad that while Gabriel momentarily or for a time accepts that he cannot have these treats like the rest of the kids, that at the same time, when he has the urge he asks again to reconsider the ingredients. This means that he will always question and have optimism - maybe a chip off his Mom who also is considered forever optimally optimistic!!
ReplyDeleteThings change all the time and it is so important that we all continue to remember to ask even if it has been the same for days, weeks or years...never take status quo for granted...maybe tomorrow will be different for some way or reason.