When my Mom passed away in January there were a lot of holidays ahead of me. And my wife was concerned that they may would be hard for me having one first right after another. But a lot of them were ones we were big on outside of a special lunch (She was diabetic, so doctor appointments and holidays were "Off Days" where she could have something that she couldn't have all the time.
The only holiday that kind of hit was Easter becuse that is opening day of the Keansburg Boardwalk and our first helping of Boardwalk Fries, a Sausage Peppers and Onions from Nickerson's, two slices from Pizza V and a Hot Dog from The Heidelberg. But I'll bet next week's paycheck that Woody and his wife Marie still have a counter with a grill loaded with hotdogs going in mom's new neighborhood in the hereafter.
Mother's Day wasn't an emotional hit either because that was one of our special lunch days. And even her birthday was another where we missed a lunch date. And we had so many together when neither one of us should have been in existence to begin with that it really made me appreciate all of the ones we had.
But this first October is a real hit to the feels because it was our month and she was the one that introduced me to monsters and got me to absolutely love them and Halloween.
It still strikes me funny that even when I turned fifty she still had me picking out a 'Halloween Present" from any Drugstore's or Target's Halloween department.
Then we would see whatever Horror or Monster movie was out that month. And I would make sure to buy her a bag of BRACH's Candy Corn and a bag of Reese's Pumpkins in her freezer that she would have for the month.
One of my favorite memories was of her being known as "The Potato Chip Lady" in Union Beach (she would get two cases of them from a vendor at the nursing home she worked at) and these were the deli lunch size bags of WISE not the tiny variety pack ones.
Then when it was my wife's and my turn to take the Trick or Treaters happy we would give Bendy Skeletons instead to keep the kids safe from peanut allergies. And everyone of any age loved them, even the parents
would get one of their own.
And her all time favorite printed cardboard Halloween decoration by artist Peter Hawley would be hanging in our front picture window. This is the image on it but it was on a orange background with "Put on a Happy Face!" across the top.
I was surprised that I even found the artwork of the decoration on Pintrest, so I guess it's mom's way of telling me she's still going to be with me for our month. And come to think of it Halloween is supposed be the day when everyone's supposed to be able to visit from the great beyond anyway.
Love You Mom!
