FOR A BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY SMILE
ELKINSDENTAL.COM OCTOBER 2018
HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN
Do you tend to make your costumes or buy them? With the exception of my dad’s creations, we usually just used what we had at home for our costumes, as you can see from the picture.These days, my dad is leaving the comical Halloween costumes to his kids and choosing more relaxing pursuits. Instead of woodwork, he’s gotten into another creative pastime: watercolor painting. He’s gotten quite good. His paintings inspire me to keep going with my own hobbies and make more time for my stained glass projects. In addition to Halloween, a continuing education conference is taking me to Utah this month, and it means I get to visit Evie. I’m looking forward to seeing her and hearing all about her college experience so far. Have a happy and safe Halloween!
As I’ve shared with you before, my dad was in the military and had six kids, and he got really good at making things by hand. He was great at building with wood — I think he taught himself. He might have read some books, then bought the equipment and just started doing it. Most of what we had while growing up was homemade, including our Halloween costumes. One year, my dad made costumes for my brother and me. He used a cardboard box and paint to make me a mailbox. Only instead of being a traditional mailbox, my dad wrote “U.S. Male” on the box. He thought it was clever, and I can kind of remember a few people giggling as I walked around dressed up in the white box, complete with the little red flag — a good ol’ male box. I didn’t understand the joke until much later. Out of another piece of cardboard, my dad made my brother’s costume. He painted it white with black dots on each side — a die.
How is it October already? That means it was over a month ago that we took Evie to start her freshman year of college, and it doesn’t completely feel real that she’s there. I keep waiting for her to return from her job or running errands and come through the front door. Fortunately, in our day and age, we have a lot of ways to stay connected. Our son, Adam, just celebrated his fourth birthday, and even though she’s at school, Evie got to join in on the fun and watch her little brother opening his presents via live video. It’s pretty great for the whole family that we don’t have to go too far between seeing each other — we’re just a click away. It wasn’t like that when I was going to college. All we had was a phone on the wall and a long-distance plan that cost 10 cents a minute. We couldn’t make too many long phone calls home because it got to be too expensive. Because I was about a 10-hour drive from home, I only went back for the holidays, and I missed home often. I always looked forward to seeing my family.
–Dr. Elkins
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