Steve Urkel and a minion
I've only dressed up for Halloween once; it was worth it.
We moved to Texas in 2012, living for the first two year in Colleyville. While there, my daughters —then 5 and 7—insisted that I dress up for Halloween, something I’d never done. As a kid, my Dad always had an activity at our church for the kids in the community; there were treats and we bobbed for apples, but I never got into costume. It just wasn’t my thing. Until we moved to Texas and I promised my girls that “I’m going to do it this year."
A poorly though-out plan
However, when the day came, I realized I had no costume and no plan. So, at 5 pm, as my daughters left the house with their mom to begin trick or treating, I ran into the bathroom, used a knife to make slashes on a white t-shirt, then squirted red food coloring on the shirt and ran out of the house to catch up to them. As I made my way through the community, however, I realized two things right away:
I’d chosen to go in the wrong direction—the community was shaped like a circle.
I was getting weird, uncomfortable stares from everyone.
The looks and whispers were offputting, weird even. I waved; they’d turn away. I kept making my way through the commmunity and the stares kept coming. Finally, I spotted my family at the home next to ours, but as I walked up the steps a mom, walking with two children, said “Oh, my G-d! Are you OK?” as she pulled her kids away.
I continued walking up the steps to the home and began to pilfer my daughters’ candy while talking to the neighbor. A few minutes later, an ambulance pulls up, and the male neighbor says “I think I know what this is about. I’ll take care of it.”
An assumed tragedy
Minutes later, he returned and we all realized what had taken place:
Residents assumed I was a stranger to the neighborhood,
They assumed I was badly injured and looking for help as I hastily walked through the neighborhood, and
When I showed up at my neighbor’s home, they assumed I would need an ambulance because the neighbor was a trauma surgeon.
I was embarrased for a few minutes, but it was too funny and original for the humiliation to linger.
2015: The year it happened
In 2015, the promises became a reality. I wore a costume, Steve Urkel, and accompanied my minion daughter to our neighborhood’s Halloween party. I was a proud Dad. Apparently the outfit was a little too on the nose, however.
“You look just like Steve Urkel,” everyone kept saying.
Ughhhhhhhh… The things Dads do for their daughters :D
