Two-year-old Josie in a fairy costume.

Wings in pastel shades. Shimmering when they caught the sun just right. A Dum Dum sucker firmly implanted in her mouth that she refused to turn over even to her dad and who can blame her?

That was Halloween for a two-year-old in downtown Royal Oak last Sunday.

Josie’s our granddaughter. Her dad, Kyle is our son. I remember when my wife, Kim, used to make Halloween costumes for Kyle and our three other kids.

There was no Costume USA or Party City. There was fabric, a sewing machine and voila, a puppy dog or an ugly witch or a Star Wars character.

 

The Lutheran North soccer team will go striding into another season soon enough. (The Macomb Daily/RAY J. SKOWRONEK)

 

Julian is our one-year-old grandson. His trick or treating – along with many other youngsters -- was sadly rained out.

Some years we passed out full-size candy bars. Other years, it might’ve been a sleeve of Smarties. Forget the stock market;

just check out what the Evans family is handing out the front door to see how the local economy is doing.

I got to thinking about life, passing out candy, and how time passes by the other night while I was at Lutheran North’s state semifinal soccer game against Flint Powers Catholic earlier this week.

The Lutheran North Mustangs lost 2-1 in a shootout. The players were devastated, an emotion that was etched on their faces as they came off the field. Contrast that with the jubilation of the players from Flint Powers Catholic.

The pain of such a loss probably seem like it’ll last forever for the young players. Trust me, it does eventually subside. The juniors on the roster will be seniors. The sophomores will be juniors and the sole ninth grader will be in the 10^th grade next year.

Noah and Kasey Lesnau are on the Lutheran North team. Their dad is Jeff Lesnau, and I knew Jeff when he was just a kid. My wife and I know their grandparents, Rocky and Mary Ann Lesnau.

Jeff wanted to be a sportswriter at one time. He’s found other career paths.

I talked to Mary Ann before the Flint Powers game. She could not have been more excited to watch the upcoming game. Rocky died a while back, but you know he would have loved seeing his grandsons playing on the field at Brandon High School at few days ago, too.

Lutheran North lost on the night before Halloween. But do you know what, life went on. At least a few hardy kids braved the weather, held out their bags, and were rewarded with Laffy Taffy, Milk Duds and Dum Dum suckers.

As tough as the moment seems to be, the sun always rises the next day. There will be another day’s worth of celebrity gossip on TMZ and the last time I looked, Butterball is still in the Thanksgiving turkey business.

We’ll be saying grace for Thanksgiving, and paying our credit card bills after Christmas.

The Mustangs will be back in the fall. They will be back with a vengeance. A year older. A year bigger. And mostly, a year better.

All the parents loved watching them play. All of the grandparents, too. I know at least one grandpa who would have loved it, too.

Next Halloween, the treats just might be theirs. A Snickers bar. Some Twizzlers. And a state championship.

“To God be the glory,” said Lutheran North coach Brian Horvath after the game.

Maybe He can pass some along in 2014.