Halloween

As rehearsal of the children's orchestra I conduct drew to a close earlier this week, the excitement of Halloween hung in the air. I told the kids that after writing their practice assignment on their assignment sheets, they could come tell me what they were dressing up as for Halloween.

"A ghoul!"
"A witch!"
"A skeleton!"
"A ghost!"
"Darth Vader!"
"The grim reaper!"
"A vampire!"
"Frankenstein!"
"Dracula!"

A shy violist approached me with a broad smile and whispered in my ear with delightful anticipation, "I'm going to be a princess."

Thank God for sweet little girls who love beauty more than ugliness and would prefer to bask in the girly fun of dress-up instead of clothing themselves in grimness, fright, and death.

(And that, I guess, reveals what I think of mainstream Halloween celebrations.)