You knew something was wrong when your door was opened for you this morning by a phantom menace. He seemed natural, in place, making you wonder if you got off the wrong exit on I-285.

Upon entering, a Star Wars pilot is standing at the attendance desk (If he’s a pilot, why can’t he be on time?), Superman seems to be headed to Mr. Rutledge’s office – who is cranking up a Starbucks Drive Thru cart, and, instead of hearing the normal day’s agenda going through your head, what’s there instead is that wicked laugh from the Michael Jackson “Thriller” video.

It’s times like these when you wish you were a little boy and could get comforted by your mom, where she sits you in front of the TV where the cartoons are on.

But now, today, the cartoons are real. Scooby Doo, in fact, just went that way, though the present flashes into the scene when Taylor Swift and her tribe come walking down the stairs. The memo was clear: some of them were supposed to dress as one of her record albums, a feat not even the Nick Saban of Halloween dress-up could pull off.

Moving on, there’s a parade – and even ghosts and goblins love a parade. The whole school is here, energy is electric, and even the spike ball game and volleyball nets are ignored at what’s transpiring. 

Little kids want high-fives from their larger heroes, seniors walk by with our tots – mothers and dads with cameras box out better than pros do in basketball games to get the good shot.

As for the little ones, you can bet mom will keep that picture, pull it out again in 11 or 12 years – compare it, put it in her scrapbook – and cry wondering where the time has gone.

Speaking of pictures, it’s perhaps the most photographed day of the year besides graduation, and you remember the days of the One Hour Photo shops and pulling into that shake. The line was longer than one for getting tickets to a Taylor Swift concert, speaking of.

There are teachers and coaches and administrators and young kids and old – some you actually recognize but not many. Spider-Man covers up our Latin teacher; Jabba the Hut engulfs one you’ll only learn the true identity later.

Perhaps it’s perfect. Fall break has happened. Thanksgiving’s a month away. The seasons have changed, as will the time in just 72 hours or so. Our school is rolling with it – or walking, in this case. 

Yes, it is electric, it really is. And even though you’re blinded by the light – the light being the camera flash here and there – you still must smile when you walk, look in amazement at where these people got these costumes from. And do they keep them in their closet year-round?

Still, you laugh. Because the weather is perfect, fall is here, the costumes have reached a high rating despite a lot of the degrees of difficulty. Therefore, it now makes sense that you hear that laughter – on that Michael Jackson video. Because today, of all days, is a great day to be different, look different, act different. 

And the TV time-out it creates and created is and was well worth the effort to put it all together.

Happy Halloween! And great job to all involved!

– Dunn Neugebauer