A Sweet Surprise After Halloween

This column from my archives, written five years ago, still makes me smile. I hope it brightens your day too.

My wife cautiously bought just one bag of candy bars for Halloween, not really expecting many trick-or-treaters. We’ve handed out as many as 20 bags in previous years.

But teh coronavirus kept our doorbell silent all night.It was eerily quiet.

It’s easy to joke, “Great! More Snickers for me!” But honestly, I felt a little empty. The annual parade of kids shouting “Trick or treat!” and filling their bags and pumpkins truly warms my heart.

Imagine this: you’ve turned off your porch light, and then unexpectedly hear a knock. You open the door to the cutest costumed child of the evening. Something similar happened to me. It was the day after Halloween, and two young girls were dressed up as… themselves! They were the most adorable siblings you could imagine.

They were 3 and 5 years old,enjoying a late-afternoon picnic with their parents at a local park.I was on my daily run and kept passing them as I circled around. Each time, they put a smile on my face and a little spring in my step.