“Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night,” – Steve Almond.
For many, October is the best month of the year. Everything is covered in the beautiful shades of the brown and yellow color and the smell of the fresh air brings a lot of memories. Between the yummy candies and the trick or treating, choosing the right costume has to be the highlight of the holiday.
The truth is that no matter how old one is, the excitement over Halloween is impossible to avoid.
Evan Struckman, a 10-year-old boy from Missouri, knew exactly how to dress for the school’s costume party. His mother Jill shared that her son was eager to put on a Tony Stark mask, the character behind the much loved superhero Iron Man played by Robert Downey Jr.
He wore over-sized glasses, a snazzy suit and a goatee, and nailed the look.
Speaking to TODAY Parents, mom Jill explained, “Evan loves getting dressed up — and he was especially excited that day. It was hard to get his makeup on straight because he was smiling so much.”
Evan practically sprinted to the bus and was truly looking forward to the fun. Unfortunately, some 20 minutes later, Jill got a call from school officials who told her that her son had been teased for his costume in the bus and was left very upset.
Jill went to pick him up and all Evan did was kept apologizing for ruining the makeup his mom worked hard on. “He kept saying, ‘we worked so hard on it,’” Jill said. “He was really thinking about how I would feel, which tells you a lot about him.”
As it turned out, some kids laughed at him, saying his mask looked stupid.
Despite being left in tears, Jill didn’t let her son’s day to be ruined. She asked him whether he wanted to return to the party, to what he nodded.
“He was a little scared walking back into school,” Jill told TODAY Parents. “But he had a great rest of the day. And he was so proud of himself. It was absolutely a defining moment in his life. If he hadn’t gone back, it would have broken his spirit.”
Once she shared Evan’s story, she received a huge number of messages from people who were expressing their support.
“Thanks for all the sweet words (and offers to beat up 10-year-olds) lol,” she wrote in one of her updates. “I do appreciate you all.”
The great thing is that Halloween wasn’t ruined for Evan and he had great time.