Masks

Tomorrow is the day.  Kids have thought about about it, parents have dreaded it, the sugar industry lives for it and dentists sometimes benefit from it.

HALLOWEEN

As a child, I was "sheltered" as some of my friends call it when it came to Halloween.  My brother and sisters and I were only allowed to go to certain houses, our parents had to inspect our candy before we could ever eat it and our costumes had to be modest and age appropriate (I wanted to be Jasmine from Aladdin so badly, but to no avail due to her midriff-bearing attire).  Then there was my mother's strictest rule- no masks. 

I never quite understood why she had all the rules, but she's a nurse and had seen her fair share of Halloween plans gone awry.  There are the stomachaches caused by bad candy, not to mention the effects a sugar overdoes can have on a 7-year-old's nervous system.  Then there's the allergic reaction you can have with face paints and the safety issues that come with walking around town at dusk. 

And masks.  Those masks.  Momma always said I couldn't wear them because I had asthma, which seemed to make sense at that point in time.  But then there's also the germ factor.  If you think about it, that mask will sit in the store for a period of time before it finds its way into your shopping cart.  How many people have put that mask on?  How many of them had runny noses?  Head lice?  Stinky breath? 

And that is my final conclusion as to why my mother wouldn't allow us to wear masks: she was shielding us from the horrors that come with spending a few hours behind a stink, stinky mask.

So tomorrow when you trick-or treat, if you wear a mask, I hope you remember to take along the Listerine.

Happy Halloween, everyone!