Same Costume, 9 Yrs. Later - #Halloween #JackSparrow #PiratesoftheCaribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean was always one of my favorite Disney rides, and the movie based on the theme park ride, Pirates of the Caribbean ~ Curse of the Black Pearl, came out in June of 2003.  At the time, I had a one-and-a-half-year-old son and a four-and-a-half-year-old son, so it's safe to say I probably never saw it in the theaters.  But somehow by the time my younger son was almost four, we owned the DVD and it seemed to be playing constantly in our house, much like Frozen is today at my sister's.  To be honest, I think I loved the movie more than my kids...my favorite form of entertainment combines forbidden romance with some supernatural mystery and danger--that is the mix that inspires the books I write.  So I was just fine with the fact that I knew many of the lines by heart.  In fact, my kids decided the necklace I wore (a silver heart) was our "medallion", and we played pirates quite a bit.

So it was no surprise when my younger son decided he wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow for Halloween in 2006, when the movie alternated with the latest Star Wars film on a seemingly endless loop on our television.  While I'm not particularly crafty, I decided I could make a convincing costume for him, and I set about stringing beads, buying fabric, and sewing, gluing, and pinning things together.  I loved the costume and I still think it's the best one I ever "made".

Nine years later, I pulled the old DVD out because I assigned it to my writing class for homework. Yes, that's right, they had to watch a movie--this one is a good exercise in Goal, Motivation, and Conflict for the characters.  My son found me watching it and settled in.  By the time it was over, he had decided what he wanted to be for this Halloween--Captain Jack Sparrow, again.

I'm fairly organized, and those old pirate accessories I made were still packed in our costume box.  Of course, he was much too big now for the shirt and vest.  He declared the plastic sword "too small" and insisted he needed the hat and dreadlocks this time.  But as a nod to the past, I was able to reuse the strings of beads from the headpiece, the sword belts, and the long red-and-white sash.

I couldn't resist snapping a picture in the same spot, all these years and feet and inches later, and making a little collage.  My heart twinges a bit at the incredible changes that have occurred in less than a decade--where does the time go?  But the memories make me smile, and my teenage boy is still the sweet kid he was in pre-school.  Just another reminder to enjoy every second!

Captain Jack Sparrow - 2006/2015