A couple of weeks ago, I found out I would be going to New Orleans for a college media convention. It was a great opportunity to learn more about journalism and to improve my work. The only catch was that it fell on Halloween. This isn’t necessarily a negative — being in New Orleans over Halloween — but honestly, I had wanted to be here for Halloween. I only have two more years of real celebration, so my hopes of having a great Halloween in college are dwindling.

I used to take Halloween very seriously. One year that meant getting up at 5 a.m. to paint my entire body green to be Sally from ‘The Nightmare before Christmas.’ Another year that meant staying up until 3 a.m. with my dad coding flashing Christmas lights and soldering wires to be Joyce Byers from ‘Stranger Things.’ My commitment has wavered since then, but since college I’ve tried to step up my costumes. There’s no better time.

But as both a first-year and a sophomore, Halloweekend (if you will) didn’t live up to my expectations. In 2022, I was Sam from ‘Danny Phantom,’ but we didn’t make it to the party before it was shut down. In 2023, I dressed up as a specific picture of my mother in high school posed as a gnome. We went out for thirty minutes, and most people, understandably, did not have the same appreciation I had for my costume.

My friends have felt that same disappointment — always that gap between expectations and reality. I was hoping to change that this year, though. I wanted to dress up and be with my friends here for the last two years I was able.

I talked about this in my previous editorial, about the End being Nigh, but I think holidays always bring a realization about what you’ll miss after we leave. What I think we forget to realize, though, is that the party does not end. Yes, there will (hopefully) be a time when you’re not going to three frat parties in one weekend to celebrate, but there are so many other ways that you’ll continue to.

You have control over what happens after, especially when it comes to celebrating Halloween. You’re at complete liberty to splurge on a Halloween costume, to spend your entire salary on it if you’d like. You can decorate an inordinate amount and go out for hours. You got time.

In every scenario, though, your expectations of the event are never going to match the reality. You know this, so don’t let those failed expectations drag you down.

I’ll be in New Orleans at the time this paper is published, with a very different memory of Halloween than I initially expected, but I’m still going to enjoy it. I have to remember that I don’t have one more year of celebrating Halloween before I never hear the word again. It’ll just be change, and in the meantime, I have to keep reminding myself that a night is not going to give me the same feeling I had on Halloween 2014 or be the best night of my life. That’s okay. Remind yourself of that, and enjoy the party.