October 31

It was a rather busy Halloween. I watched the costume parade at the elementary school this morning and then popped in and out of the Little Boys' classrooms to be sure their parties were progressing as planned. (I'm the room mom for each, so I feel a sense of responsibility! Fortunately, all was well.) Then I mailed some packages at the post office, downed a quick cup of coffee (okay, well, a cup and a half), and headed back to the school to pick up Brady. Then an hour later, I returned to the school to pick up Isaac and then drove to the middle school to retrieve Abby, who I found sitting on our friends' front porch waiting for me. (Fortunately, she wasn't mad. In fact, she was tickled pink over winning a costume contest during her PE class and was busting at the seams to tell me all about it.)

Then this evening, it was all about the trick-or-treating.

And since I'm me, it was also a little bit about the photos.

I've taken this particular picture each year for the last several, and I can clearly remember Logan being there with them on the couch. Smiling in his tiger suit one year and in his Lightning McQueen pit crew member outfit another. And then there was his last Halloween with us, when he dressed up like Finn McMissile. I remember how he didn't really feel much like going out, but managed to hit a few houses before he'd had enough. But beyond that, I remember how he smiled for my photos that year in spite of his own discomfort. And though I miss him even more on days like today that are supposed to be so much fun, I'm so thankful that his smile lit up my life, if only for a little while. I'm thankful that I'll see it again someday, and that I get to see shades of it right now in these three wonderful people: the leopard, the Minion, and Wednesday Addams.