Put Your Magic Goggles On
Rumor has it that our regular school bus driver was back on the route this morning. If I had known she was going to be out there, I might have put on something a little nicer than my pink elephant flannel pajamas so that I could run out and give her a big, wet kiss. Have I mentioned that having a substitute bus driver suuuuucked? Because it sucked. A lot.
Half of the reason it sucked was because of the interruption to our routine. Call me crazy, but I kind of like it when my kid gets picked up and dropped off on time. Having my kid arrive at home over an hour after she was supposed to seemed like a special form of torture. I knew there was a sub and that the whole late thing could happen, but that didn't stop me from wondering if something else had happened. Imagination is a crazy thing. I started at car accident and ended up somewhere around Alexis shoving the substitute bus driver out of the seat, picking up a bunch of her friends, and driving the stolen bus to Florida. KINDERGARTENERS GONE WILD! WOOO!
The other half of the reason it sucked was that our regular bus driver is nothing short of fantastic. She's energetic and sweet and Alexis positively adores her. Anyone who can put up with Alexis' non-stop talking and singing and talking and singing for nearly two hours each and every day deserves a medal. Anyone who can do it and still be smiling at the end of the day is forever someone I will adore. And we adore her.
Especially because The Incident that happened yesterday would NEVER happen with our regular bus driver on duty.
I was in the house when Alexis returned home after school. She came bursting into the house with a worried look on her face. As she threw her coat on the floor and her backpack on the stairs, she yelled for me. "Momma! Momma!" she yelled.
"Yes, Alexis," I said as I glared at the debris she had scattered all about. If anyone ever finds a cure for Throw-Everything-On-The-Floor-itis, I will pay $1000000000000 for a single drop.
"Momma, the bus driver said that fairies go away when you get older!" she reported with a frown. She was so very serious, so very worried, so very Six. She wants to believe in magical things. Forever.
I was not amused. At all. We don't lie to Alexis about the magical aspects of childhood, but we certainly don't do anything to smother her enthusiasm. People who smother her enthusiasm make me all sorts of Furious George.
I asked Alexis what she thought about the theory that fairies go away when you get older as I quickly grabbed my coat. We needed to run to the store and I wanted to leave immediately. Alexis never really managed to answer my question thanks to the chaos of dogs and cats and trying to leave. Instead, she ran outside so that she could get in the car as I had instructed her.
Of course, Alexis can't just get into the car. She has to follow a twisty path of curiousity and wonder as she winds her way through the dining room, down the stairs, across the basement, past the patio, and to the driveway. She was distracted by shiny things all along the way.
I stood in our kitchen and waited. I knew she would eventually meander to one particular corner of the patio. I wanted to be looking out the window when she did.
It didn't take long.
The kid cannot walk through our back yard without stopping to visit the fairy garden.
She saw it immediately. I know she saw it immediately because she started jumping up and down and pointing.
An itty bitty snowman had appeared in the fairy garden.
Alexis ran back into the house yelling for me to hurry up so she could show me something. She was still bouncing with excitement as I walked out the door.
I can say with the utmost certainty that fairies do not go away as you grow up. You just have to learn to see their magic with a different set of eyes.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Reader Comments (13)
Awwww... You have warmed my ice cold heart!
That is such a great and important and magical post!
Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for this post and yes - you are so right!
gasp
That bus driver must be a troll! Only trolls can't see the fairies anymore when they get older! Thats because grown up trolls scare the fairies so they HIDE. They don't disappear.
Silly school, letting a troll drive a bus.
Someone else found a fairy garden in an ornament! They put a picture on pinterest. Let me see if this will work
http://pinterest.com/pin/253679391480543461/
Me? I'm trying to track down zombie matryoshka dolls for the demented nephew :)
Unbelievable. magic is all around us. You just need to look for it.
Love the post--just wanted to say your description of Alexis running through the house reminds me of a Family Circus cartoon where you see the kids running all over the neighborhood to ask the Mom a simple question in the next room.
I very much dislike people like that bus driver. I don't lie to my kids either, but I don't do anything to put out the magic. Your fairy garden is so beautiful and inspiring.
I believe in ALL things magical - Santa, tooth fairy, Easter bunny, fairies, and, of course, leprechauns. We are working on our leprechaun traps this week. They get more elaborate every year. Maybe this year we'll get that pot 'o gold! (It might be harder this year because they won't be at school for the shenanigans to take place. "Finnegan" will have to be much more creative. Nuts.)
Thanks for sharing your magic!
SWEET! Its a shame Alexis didn't hijack the bus after the driver told her that! Magic is all around us, we just have to know how to see it.
i love you even more than that tiny snowman!
That is a precious picture. These are going to be great stories to tell her children one day.
I love the last picture of Alexis. Her excitement is evident AND contagious! And I love the snow and snowman.
All right. That's it. You've convinced me to add a fairy garden to the rather intimidating vegetable garden and pond that I'm inheriting with the purchase of our new house.
We all need a little more magic in our lives. (Especially so for that bus driver, it seems.)