So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu Childhood...

In the spirit of the Halloween Holiday, I'd like to take a moment to mourn the loss of my youth.  I never really had to worry about filling my pillowcase full of candy. I always knew that the Candy Queen would pull through with the annual eight pounds of sugar. Oh yes. Eight pounds of halloween candy. Not for my family, not for my friends, not for my distant relatives, but all for ME. Well, maybe I can't eat eight pounds of chocolate goodness by myself, but as of October 29,2010, I received my final bag of candy.
     I have always looked forward to the day I would receive my candy especially post the glory days of Trick Or Treating. Receiving this candy, was a highlight of my year. If I wanted candy, I had to be on my best behavior. This event only came once a year, and every time I got it, I knew it was one year closer to not receiving the sugary goodness. As the years went on the candy queen always knew what kind of candy I liked and what I didn't like, including my favorites of Twix, Kit-Kats, and Reese Cups.  After receiving my candy, I was to follow tradition and dump it all out and sort it into three groups. The don't even think about touching it pile included, Reese Cups, Twixs, Kit Kats, and Milky Ways. The you can touch it pile but you have to ask, three musketeers, hershey bars, skittles, and starburst. And the go ahead you don't even have to ask pile/I stuck those in for your mother and father almond joys, whoppers, and some years, those nasty mary jane's sticky peanut butter chews.
     I usually get my candy some where in the middle of October. If I remember correctly, I would usually get it somewhere around the 15th of October. It was perfect timing, just enough to hold me until the actual holiday, when I was fortunate and young enough to trick or treat, I would have more to add to my collection. While celebrating the candy queens's birthday, I started to wonder? Where was my candy? I hope she hadn't forgotten. The last year I get candy she forgets? This can not be happening. "Did you forget about candy this year?" "Is it already Halloween? Whoops." Hahahahaha. Real funny.  "No I did not forget." Crisis Adverted.
     "But what if I go to grad school next year?" "Sara you're not going to grad school next year." Thank you captain obvious. I am/was determined to make this candy tradition go farther than just my undergraduate career. "No Sara. We've gone over this before. You only get candy through your four years of college." The breezy cool fall October days went by and still no sign of candy. It hadn't been mentioned since the birthday celebrations, and there were no traces of empty wrappers in trash cans to be found. The weekend of Halloween had rolled around. This was starting to worry me. Being the problem solver I am, I took it upon myself to solve this trick (I'm so clever) and invite myself over for Taco Night. We all knew there was an elephant in the room that needed to be discussed. WHERE'S. MY. CANDY?!  I could taste the Reese's in my mouth. What a perfect dessert after a delicious dinner. "If you stick around for dessert...." My dream had come true. I had solved this mystery. Case closed. "You can have a piece of Coconut Cake." Who wants Coconut Cake for dessert when you have a whole bag of sugary goodness waiting for you? I began the lonesome walk to my car in hopes of having a front seat filled with unhealthy candy bars. 
     "I forgot last night. What time do you get off work?" Can you come by the house after work?!" It's about time I be reunited with my candy. And for the last time, I slowly dumped my candy out into the piles. In the words of the great philosopher Taylor Swift, "Growing up happens without you knowing it. Growing up is such a crazy concept because a lot of times when you were younger you wish you were older."
-Sara-