I was coming home the other day from work. As I got off the train I passed a fruit store near my house to pick up a salad. Approaching the store, I noticed a section with about three hundred large round orange vegetables which made me realize what holiday was steadily approaching – Halloween.

When I was younger, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. I would dress up in crazy costumes, stay out late with my friends, and get free candy from every house on the block – what child would not love a holiday like that?

I remember that weeks before each Halloween, I would beg my mom to take me to the store and let me pick out my costume. Over the years, I dressed as everything from Batman to a zombie to Spiderman to just about every costumed hero you could think of. We would also have to buy candy to give all of the children that would knock on our door. All right, I have a confession to make; when my mom asked me to pick out the candy, I would only buy what I liked and would usually put half of what we bought in my bag leaving hardly any for the other children (sorry, mom).

I remember how excited I would get when Halloween would arrive. I would always wear my costume to school, if it was a school day. If not, I would put it on as soon as I got up. I would immediately grab my trick or treat bag – which was a 30-gallon garbage bag already containing the aforementioned candy – and be standing at the door ready to go “trick-or-treating”.

Off I would go, house to house, “Trick-or-treat!” I would yell. I always got a smile and a handful of candy. It’s a good thing too, because looking back, if someone said, “no treat”, my bluff would have been called, because I never had prepared a trick, so it’s a good thing that never happened.

As the night dragged on, so did my bag. The heavier it got, the bigger my smile. I knew I would have lots of yummy candy to fill my belly when I got home. And once I hit the last house on the left, it was all you can eat at chez Wein’s

When I got home, I would tear my bag open and let the candy spill all over the floor. I would then separate it by category (this act is obvious anal-retentiveness, which I still possess). The chocolates would go together, as would the hard candies, the licorice, the lollipops and the gum. I would throw away those unwrapped or “suspicious” looking candies – just in case – and then devour the remaining loot. Yes, “trick-or-treating” was always fun, but the trick was on me, because after I ate all of my candy, I would get a visit by the stomach ache fairy, who would stay all night long.

I distinctly remember the last time I tried to trick-or-treat. I was around eleven and I bought a mask, fake hands, a bloody shirt and my usual 30-gallon trick-or-treat bag. As I walked out of the house, I got an overwhelming feeling, which could only be described as, “I’m too old to do this syndrome”. I went right back in the house and realized that my “trick-or-treating” days were over.

Now that I’m older, I buy the candy for the children who knock on my door (although I still buy what I like). So when my doorbell rings tonight, I’ll be opening the door with a handful of candy.

All this reminiscing about Halloween makes me miss the good old days. Can anyone out there lend me a 30-gallon garbage bag?