It all started innocently enough.
It was our second year of marriage.
We were poor.
Dirt poor.
Actually we could not have afforded dirt even if we had needed it. We were living in a cockroach infested part of Houston in the "Gulfton Ghetto" I am not kidding when I say that is what it was referred to. I even heard it once on the news. The first month we lived there someone was murdered across the quad of our apartments. The neighbors downstairs and around the corner smoked and I believe sold pot from their front door. Our next door neighbor might very well have been a "lady of the evening" with the constant stream of men visitors and noises which came through our paper thin walls. A game we would play upon entering the kitchen and turning on the lights was to see how many roaches we could stomp on as they skittered away to their hiding places. Sirens were the background music for most of our evenings.
We had to live there.
Did I mention we were poor?
Anyway my sweet husband came home one night with a big grin on his face and his hands behind his back.
He had a present for me.
It was a little plush spider with soft furry legs and an elastic web string which hung from the ceiling.
I was so excited!
I was so worried! (how much did it cost? I probably even asked him that..I don't remember)
I was so touched!
His name was Webster.
It was the beginning of my Halloween obsession. I cannot pass by Halloween decorations without stopping. I cannot see a pumpkin without wanting it. I cannot bear to pass by a witch and not snatch it up.
I realized the depth of my problem when after decorating my house the missionaries from our church stopped by to see if I would possibly have a discussion in my home. They only had to stand at my front door filled with witch signs, brooms and pumpkins and peer in to the collection of witches on my entry to decide that maybe my house was not the ambience that had been looking for.
I tried to defend myself by telling them the that I had a lot more Christmas nativities than witches and that if they would only come back in a few months....
I kinda stretched the truth
Only if you count all of the people and animals in the creche visiting the baby Jesus would I have more nativities than witches and monsters.
But in my defense
I grew up reading Stephen King and my favorite movie was Poltergeist.
And fall is my favorite season.....
And you all know my love of all things CANDY...
And.....
Blame it on Mr. T.
He started it.
