Thursday, October 31 2019

Dear Journal,

Good morning everyone - and happy Halloween. This morning was a little more complicated than usual, as I had to figure out how to slip into my Spider-Man costume and conceal all the revealing bits so it would be work place appropriate. I spent about five minutes deliberating and staring at the bathroom mirror, and I finally settled on a black pair of athletic shorts. I think I made the right call. Today the front of the costume wasn't looking too bad, but after I thought to turn around and check the butt situation, things were looking pretty HD back there, if you catch my drift.

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I worked from home all day, and took a break to meet Rob at Glass Nickel for some lunch. Afterwards, I knocked out some more work, then decided to put on my costume for my last meeting of the day, which earned a nice laugh. Truth be told, it's really comfortable in this thing. It feels like something that you would wear while running outside, except it covers your fingers. But it's warm, and I definitely don't feel naked (although without the black shorts, I assure you I look naked).

After work, we all put our Halloween costumes on. Rodney was not having it - it took lots of time to ease him into the idea, and through literal kicking and tears, getting his costume on one leg, arm, and finger at a time. What really complicated the whole thing was that Marissa and I were already in costume at this point. I could imagine that if you were peering into our house during that noisy half hour, seeing Spider-Man and Spider-Woman rough up a screaming toddler would have been quite the site.

After Rodney got his suit on, we all sat on the couch and cooled down with an episode of Blippi. I jumped around the living room to get some laughs out of him, and Rodney slowly warmed up to the idea. We bundled up and jumped in the car, making our way downtown.

Looking around the square, Marissa started to get nervous. "So just updating you all, I don't see anyone in costume yet," she said. "It's OK, everyone is probably just on State Street or something," I assured her.

We made our way to State street. There was still no costumes to be seen. We ducked into an ally to avoid the chilly wind while Marissa consulted her phone. "So it was last week. Trick or Treating for the kids downtown was on the 23rd," Marissa summarized. We were a week late. Rodney, standing there in his spider-man costume holding an empty bucket was none the wiser.

After a quick family meeting outside the Orpheum, we decided to just get some fudge instead. "Dude, the only thing better than a bucket filled with candy is a bucket full of fudge," I assured Rodney. We turned into the fudge shop and picked out some chocolate covered pretzels, some fudge, and a bear claw - that was for me, for later.

As we paid for our treats, we chatted with the owner, who was nice enough to offer us some caramel apple samples. It turns out we knew the guy through a friend. We told them about how we thought the kids were trick or treating on the square and were getting fudge in lieu of candy.

"Well here, we have some extra candy too," he said, grabbing a bag from the back. Rodney held out his paint bucket and repeated my words quietly - Tricker-Treat. Marissa carried on the conversation. "I'm just worried that we stick out like a sore thumb - I feel like everyone can tell we made a mistake."

"Nah, you just look like fun people," he said closing the fudge case.

We left the fudge shop and walked back into the square. We decided to eat out at the old fashion. I put on my mask, and put Rodney on my shoulders, and we got plenty of fist bumps and Hey Spidey!'s along the way.

We ate dinner at the Old Fashioned, then made our way to the car. I decided to scare Marissa by putting on my mask and jumping on the hood of the car after everyone climbed in. She decided to scare me in return by slowly backing the car out while I was on top. She called my bluff, probably knowing that I couldn't really see anything with my mask on. I flopped off the car and got in.

I kept my suit on while I put Rodney to bed. As I guided Rodney through his bedtime routine, I noticed that he addressed me as Spider, and was more prompt than usual with following instructions. Maybe the suit commands an extra sense of authority.

After I came down stairs, I chatted with Marissa, who was on the couch gulping down a sparkling water. "Is it just me or was that dinner way too salty?" she complained. "Oh I'm completely parched, and I just got the soup." I assured her.

I finally took off my suit so I could knock out my chores for the evening. I earned extra husband points by dicing the rest of Marissa's red onion in the fridge - that's part of her salad stash. She joked that she expected me to just throw everything out. "I thought about it," I laughed. "But then I'd just have to buy it all again."

This morning, I'm wearing the suit to work, and after test driving it yesterday, I've put plenty of thought into how I'll get through the day. Since touch screens are a lot harder to use, I'm even bringing my own wireless mouse. Today should be a mostly regular work day, but I'm pretty sure there is also a Halloween party mixed in there. I'm not going to lie to you, readers. I like wearing the suit - not just because it's comfortable, but I like feeling a little like Spider-Man. I feel like I could walk outside and foil a mugging, or stop a runaway subway - as long as I'm not wearing the mask, I can barely walk in a straight line with that thing on my face.

Happy Halloween, everyone. Stay safe out there!