Dear John,
There are not many places I would let you dress up as "Butterfly Boy." My mother's heart is too sensitive to the possibility of a poor reaction to let you have such a flamboyant look just out and about town, at least until you are old enough to understand the look of judgement and how little it has to do with you.
But a renaissance fair is pretty much a place free of judgement of any sort. And so I opened up the discussion of what to wear with the open ended "who do you want to be tomorrow" and when "butterfly boy" was your answer, we ran with it.
You saw many other butterflies at the fair, although admittedly they were all little girls. You also noticed that while all of them had wings, you were the only one with a hat. I think I detected a trace of pride when you said that to me.
In addition to Butterfly, we had Emp'r Zana (who looked a lot like your sister), your dad, me and the Robinsons. I told Mrs. Robinson that you and your sister would be dressing up and that Andrew might want to wear some of his more fun or costumy or just not-normal everyday wear clothes. She looked at me, paused, looked down and said, "Um, all he has is normal clothes." Right. Not everyone has a whole slew of fabulous looks to chose from on Ren Fair day. I told her I guessed it was part of her job to help Andrew feel good about being normal in such zany company as it was my job to help you and your sister feel good about being so colorful in a world that loves normalcy. What a blessing to have such balancing friendships!
At the fair, you enjoyed some shows. One was a dog show.
The other a musician who let you kids come up to the stage to perform with him.
You and I rode the carousel.
You and your dad did the ponies.
You and your sister did the big joust ride.
Mostly, though, you just enjoyed the time with your sister and the Robinsons. You love that family so much. Even after a whole day with them, you were asking if we could go see them some more.
I am glad that your sister has such a wonderful best buddy and I am glad that they let you tag along with them with so little fuss.
And I hope that I don't seem like a self absorbed mother when I say that despite all of the fun you had and all of the things you and your sister did, my very favorite part of the whole day was shopping for myself.
I have wanted a real ren fair outfit for as long as I can remember. In high school, I had no where to wear it and no money to spend on it. In college, I started gaining weight and by the time I got to two-fifty, it no longer seemed like the kind of thing I would want to spend money on... knowing it wouldn't be the look I was trying for in my mind's eye. So of all of the things I have bought for my smaller frame, this is the one I am most excited about. And the best part is that the laces have a lot of give in them and the whole thing can be tightened down if I continue to lose weight.
I love that your dad bought this for me. I love that he admired me so much in it. We went to Sherwood Forest as a family, but it felt more like a date with children tagging along. I loved it. And I truly believe that your life and your sister's will be better if your dad and I treat more of these kinds of outings that way. There is plenty of time for you to have fun and do things you want to do. We only have a decade or so to model the kind of marriage we hope you will strive for as adult.
Love,
Mom
No comments:
Post a Comment