Every year on Halloween in our neck of the woods there’s that one kid who tries to come into our house. We have a lot of pint-sized trick-or-treaters in our neighbourhood what with the elementary school around the corner. So usually it’s a three year old first-timer who wants in. Because – hey, normally when you knock on someone’s door you go inside, right? (Just as an aside, with that in mind, celebrating Halloween really is a weird thing to do.)

Not this year. This year it was Roland, who was at least 5 and dressed as one of the many Star Wars characters which I can’t specifically identify. As I turned around with his chocolate and his candy, there he was, standing in my front hall, pointing at my nephew’s Nerf gun and asking what it was. Then he was peering around the corner into my office, and just generally getting the lay of the land at our house.

As his dad attempted to coax Roland back out into the darkness, he grabbed the door frame on his way out and refused to let go. “She gave me two treats! I want two more!” His dad eventually managed to peel Roland’s small hand off the door frame all the while explaining that that’s not how this Halloween thing works. Robb and I were laughing pretty hard when I was finally able to close the door on this particular trick-or-treater.

What are my Roland takeaways? Be curious. And then be even more curious. Who knows who you’ll meet or what you’ll see/learn/do when you get curious. And be clear about what you want. Put it out there – like Roland, you might not always get what you want but if you don’t ask you’ll never find out. And a confession: it took me longer than it should have to figure that one out for myself! Happy All Saints Day, everyone!