Halloween Speed Limit. No Tricks!

Aunt Wanda and I were chatting this weekend. She graduated from our small town high school in 1950 and recently, one of the five surviving members of her class had stopped by to see her as he was traveling. He and Wanda pulled out their high school yearbooks and reminisced about good times and old friends.

Now what you need to know about Wanda is that she has a special gift. She can remember significant dates and events in the lives of our entire extended family and her world. In our family the mantra is: if you can’t remember, go ask Wanda. She knows the day her 79-year-old cousin got married in 1955 and the birth dates of that bride and groom and now each of their children’s children and their spouses! Birthdays and anniversaries are never quite complete without hearing from Wanda.

So, back to the class of 1950 and such. She was telling me about the visit from her former classmate and the fact that he had a sibling born while he was in high school—a surprise baby, you might say. However that special child was killed on Halloween night when a car hit her as she crossed the street where she lived. I’m guessing that happened in the early 1950’s. But Wanda remembers, of course. And it brings me to this Halloween Day over 60 years later.

Watch for our tiniest of pedestrians tonight! Truth is, watch for them every day and every night! Kids do unpredictable things. They dart between parked cars. They race across the street because they suddenly remembered something left there yesterday. Most of them are no taller than a parked car and they be-bop out before you know it. That’s why the speed limit goes down in the city limits. It’s not to make you late and it’s not a speed trap; the speed limit lowers because there are more pedestrians. Tonight, our streets will be teeming with Trick or Treaters. Be on the lookout. An extra precaution on your part will insure there’s not another horrible story to remember and recount 60 years later.

Thanks for reminding me, Wanda.