Every Day Life: Going Bananas

By Beth M

Growing up a pastor's kid I wasn't allowed out on Halloween night. I thought it was just my dad being mean, but seems he had other reasons which, as an adult, I can understand, even if I don't agree with them. My kids go trick-or-treating every year; it's just a fun night for them. Dressing up is always fun.

Last year on Halloween I thought how fun it would be to hide in the bushes by our front door and jump out at people when they come. We get mostly college kids, living right next to Philadelphia Biblical University. My mom works there as do several of our neighbors, and the kids like to visit the professors on Halloween. I debated what kind of costume to get for this year's Halloween, the Scream guy, Jason, werewolf, etc. but settled on a gorilla. It wasn't until a few weeks before Halloween this year that I finally got it though. Lara and I just happened to be in Target, I had dragged her back to the seasonal section where there were some Christmas decorations up. I love Christmas, started decorating early sometime about the year my brother and I decorated the whole house for Christmas, including tree, cookies and music, while my mom was at a faculty workshop in August. But that's another story. This story belongs to the gorilla suit.

I was ecstatic with my purchase. When Lara and I got back to my house I changed in the kitchen bathroom and proceeded to freak out all of my cats. One we didn't see again for several hours. Sorry, Diggory! Mom thought it was funny, Kara was embarrassed and Ben thought it was cool. Halloween couldn't come fast enough.

When the night finally arrived, I offered to drive Kara to her friend's house while wearing the suit. She refused. Said something like, "I don't like the way you look right now." Someday she'll realize how much fun I am. Mom got the candy ready, Ben went off with his friends and we waited. I had decided against hiding in the bushes. There would be no way for me to be quiet, there's a lot of dead leaves and trying to jump out from back there would be difficult. Not scary either. So I hung out inside, away from the door. When people came, if they were older kids or from the college, I would put on my mask and hands, sneak out the side door and come up behind them. I got a lot of good screams, a few near punches and laughter. Once, when there was a large group of college kids, I pushed my way to the front, grabbed the bowl of candy from my mom and ran. I heard cries of "Wait, who is that?" "What's going on" and "Are we supposed to stop it?"

I also visited my small group that night. Some of them had seen the costume before but thought it hysterical nonetheless. Those who hadn't nearly wet themselves laughing. One girl in our group is from Japan and she had someone take pictures of me in the gorilla suit trying to strangle her to send home. Strange American tradition! All in all, it was a good night.

Now some of you might think that owning a gorilla suit is kind of silly. After all, it can only be used once a year right? WRONG!!  Just a week later found me in Maryland with Lara, wearing the gorilla suit to a mutual friend's shop. We got some funny looks from people as we walked in, laughs from the owners, took some fun pictures and hung out. But the fun doesn't end there. Lara and I have come up with a list (it's what we do) of things to do while wearing the gorilla costume. I won't spoil the fun by telling you all of them but here are a few: sit on a park bench (where people walk) reading Cosmo, go for a jog, send a singing telegram. We won't be going into any more businesses though, especially not banks. Walking into any store other than the one owned by our friends with a mask on is just asking to be arrested. So the gorilla suit has already paid for itself in fun-ness. I'm sure you'll be hearing about it again and as I stated on face book recently "gorilla costume = best purchase EVER!!!"

Beth is a gorgeous, size 6 blonde married happily these 20 years to Sean Bean, dreamy British actor. Their perfect children attend a boarding school in Scotland that they take the scarlet train out of King's Cross Station to each term. In her spare time, Beth likes to perform interpretive dance in local parks and raise awareness for S.P.E.W. Sean and Beth also own a German Shepherd named Chauncy who likes to nap. Beth M. and Lara were the brains behind our fun series on the Year of the Birthday. We are thankful they have decided to continue the fun with the Bucket List and Every Day Life.