You know it wouldn’t be Halloween at the Gilliam house if the gorilla suit did not make an appearance.
For three years, that suit has been the highlight of Brandon’s year. Sure, 2012 was a good year — we were engaged, married and bought a house, found out we were having a baby.
But nothing will ever top the life-changing experience of walking into a Meijer store on Halloween three years ago and finding the lone gorilla suit left on the shelf. Lonely gorilla suit met costume-less man headed to a Halloween party, and all was right with the world. A magical moment if ever there was one.
That was the day Brandon said to me, “This is a good investment. I mean, you can use it year-round.”
And I¿still married him.
Fast forward two years, and we are trying to consolidate two apartments into one house.¿Naturally, the gorilla suit made the journey across town. Naturally, even when we were still unpacking and couldn’t find shoes to wear to work, we always knew where the gorilla suit was.
I even broke down and gave away my 30-year-old Christmas tree given to me by my friend’s grandma.
But still, the gorilla suit stayed.
Then we found out about the baby, and, as luck would have it, we discovered they make pint-sized gorilla outfits. Well, you know there was no getting rid of that suit once Brandon found out matching father-daughter gorilla suits were a possibility. It might become our Christmas card photo next year.
Patiently, he waited five long months after moving in to the house before another Halloween rolled around. But the plan was always in place, just dress up and delight the neighborhood children with a gorilla handing out Butterfingers.
On Halloween night, Brandon rushed home from work so he would be ready for the first trick-or-treaters.
We had no idea how many kids to expect since we were new to the neighborhood, but some friends had promised to bring their little boy, and our nephew was going trick-or-treating for the first time. All that and a gorilla suit — it was almost too much excitement for one night.
Luckily, when he pulled the suit out of the closet and started putting it on, the old magic was still there. Even though he hadn’t worn it in a year, the old spark was still there. Oh, happy day.
The doorbell rang, and he rushed down the stairs, ready to greet our first guests. Some cute kids we didn’t know held out their bags with the customary “trick-or-treat.” They didn’t seem to notice the gorilla giving them their candy.
Still, Brandon was undaunted. The goal was never to actually scare any kids, because I don’t find being scared particularly fun, but I do think he thought there would be some kind of reaction. It turns out kids today are just used to living in a gorilla suit kind of world.
Even little Eli, our first-time trick-or-treater, didn’t take much notice of the gorilla. At one point, I had a baby frog and a gorilla rolling a ball back and forth on the living room floor. I guess frogs and gorillas have an understanding of one another, a wildlife bond the non-costumed can’t understand.
Then our friends brought over their trick-or-treater, a two-year-old Mickey Mouse. There was some communing between the mouse, the frog and the gorilla, but the mouse was a little less receptive to the gorilla than everyone else, so the mask had to eventually come off.
Overall, though, it was a successful Halloween from a gorilla standpoint, even if he didn’t have quite the impact we expected. It’s probably for the best since we are new to the neighborhood. Best not to peak too early. We still have 29 more Halloweens before the house is even paid for, so the gorilla suit will have another day in the sun.
Plus, we’ve already established you can use it year-round. I don’t know why I was worried about what to do for the baby’s first birthday party when we’ve had a gorilla suit in an upstairs closet all this time.
