Dear Joey,

Ready or not, here comes Halloween. Again.

Last year the kids looked so big and grown up that I couldn’t believe they actually wanted to trick or treat. Addie went out on her own with friends. So did Mia, for that matter. We trudged through the neighborhood with EJ and realized we’re heading into a new season of learning how to handle the scariest parts of Halloween — namely, letting kids grow up.

And now they are another year older, making plans and coming to terms with the fact that they don’t really like Halloween either. (Except for EJ. EJ still counts on it to replenish his annual candy stash. Someday he’ll grow out of that, right?) The one good thing about it this year is it’s not freaking me out like it used to. Remember when I wanted to just stay home and avoid the trick or treating hoopla altogether, watching Alfred Hitchcock movies and eating pumpkin chili? (Well, let’s be honest: I still want to do that.)

We’ve done the food allergy parent thing for more than 10 years now, and while I still don’t love Halloween, I’m not afraid of it like I was at the beginning of this food allergy adventure. I’m sharing about how we learned to handle Halloween with special medical needs over at the IG Living blog today. As a staff writer and editor for IG Living Magazine, I get to share stories from our life and lessons we’ve learned about living with special medical needs (food allergies in particular for us) with countless other families who live with similar circumstances.

Want to check it out? Here’s the link .

Here’s to a safe and happy Halloween!