Luke

A special thing about our 22 year-old daredevil nephew--a recent Coast Guard Academy graduate and lover of planes, motorcycles, microbrews, and all physically risky endeavors--is that he has a soft spot for six year-old boys who worship the very ground he walks upon.

Despite their sixteen-year age difference, Luke generously indulges Boy Wonder's insistence on sitting beside (and on) him at all meals, plays chess and tag with him, and pokes gentle fun at Boy Wonder.

Boy Wonder, naturally, is delighted and amazed with his capable and brave big cousin. In fact, I'm pretty sure he would leave town with Luke if his parents would let him. So the fact that this weekend brings both Luke AND Halloween has Boy Wonder in a complete frenzy.

Adding a bunch of candy to this already volatile mix seems crazy, but I'm afraid that's exactly what we're going to do.