As All Hallows’ Eve rapidly approaches, I’m reminded of a kindness my grandmother paid me.

If I haven’t mentioned it already, my grandmother was an extremely devout Christian. Many Black people that were raised by Christians as devout as my grandmother weren’t allowed to celebrate Halloween.

For some reason, my grandmother let me celebrate it though. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was just a childhood memory she wanted me to have. I was allowed to dress up at school and go trick-or-treating. She always broke all of my candy in half to check for razor blades before I ate it. This is one of my fondest memories of her. This act of protection.

Usually when I think about my childhood, I remember my grandmother being extremely strict with me. I wasn’t allowed to go to sleepovers at all or go to friends’ houses for dinner often, even if they lived in my neighborhood. I’ve thought so much about what I wasn’t allowed to do that I forgot about what I was allowed to do.

My future children will be allowed to celebrate Halloween. I love the idea of dressing up and becoming someone/something else for a day. I loved trick-or-treating when I was young enough to do it and I loved taking my young cousin trick-or-treating when I got too old. I’m from Pennsylvania so there was always someone in the neighborhood who worked for Hershey and therefore, was handing out full-size candy bars. I made sure I never missed that house! Lol!

Happy Halloween to all of you who celebrate it! I hope you treat yourself to a good scare this year and that you, and any little ones that will be Trick-or-treating, stay safe.