Throwing my hat in for the Batman reboot…

I’ve been going through some boxes of old pictures lately and I found this photo of me dressed up as Batman. I’m not sure how old I was when this was taken but if I had to guess, I’d say somewhere between 3 and 21. That range is based on the years in my life when I would have probably worn a Batman costume. 3 to 21 is a fairly good guess because as I’ve matured, my costume of choice eventually became Spider-Man.

Also, as much as I’d love to say this was taken on Halloween, there’s really no way for me to be sure about that. This could’ve been just a regular-ass Wednesday for me.

I was a lucky kid growing up because my mother was a crafty woman. (Crafty like needlepoint, not crafty like Heather Locklear on Melrose Place.) Halloween was a great time because she’d always find a way to make me a kick-ass costume. There’s nothing quite like having a handmade costume when you go out trick-or-treating because you know that even if you run into another Batman, you’re going to look totally different.

And let’s be honest, if it was a costume bought at a K-Mart in the mid-80′s, it was just going to be a plastic mask of Batman’s face and a bib with a picture of Batman on it. THAT’S NOT HOW COSTUMES WORK!!! Sorry for yelling. Also, that feels like a Seinfeld bit so I’m sorry if I cribbed that part.

This is one of the few pictures I have of the calvacade of costumes that my mom made for me and finding this required a ton of digging. I’m not sure what happened to them but I’m afraid my Bravestarr uniform and my awesome Ghostbusters jumpsuit (complete with proton pack and personalized “Cortez” badge) will probably only live on in my memories.

I know it’s not the most technically accurate Batman costume out there – the bat looks like a ghost, it’s not really a cowl per se, and I’m wearing boots with fringes which is something even Disco Batman wouldn’t wear – but it was a Cortez original and that can mean the world to a kid.

I’m not sure if I really have a point for this post other than the fact that I should really learn how to sew. If not for the sake of the Halloweens of my future children, then, surely for the sake of all my clothes with holes in them.