It happens every time we go to the gardens. A beautiful place that seems so magical, how could she resist the urge to enter into a story and become part of a fairyland?
“Mommy, can we play together?” Ellie asks.
I look down at her, her big blue eyes staring at me full of anticipation, dancing with delight as she waits for my answer. Usually my hands cling on to the camera, snapping pictures of the girls, asking for a pose. But today there is so much longing, she has been waiting to do this for a while.
“Yes sweetheart, we can play.”
Her face breaks into a smile that melts my heart.
We let daddy, the sisters, and our friends know that we will be playing, and with that, we take off running. We stop only to plot the details of our adventure.
“What do you want your name to be?” Ellie asks.
I had forgotten. Memories of playing as a kid and choosing a name come back to me. When was the last time I had played with Ellie this way that I had not realized she now chooses a name?
“Eliana.” I say.
“I will be Samantha.”
Then hand in hand we ran through the gardens away from the trolls that were after us and intended to take over our Kingdom. We escape their grips, only to return to our castle to find out that Mama and Papa were captured. We found the fairies who told us where to find the magic stick that would restore the Kingdom and destroy the trolls. We were captured one more time, and we fought trying to escape, but once in prison, the magic stick had enough power to let us out. As we made our way back to the castle, Mama and Papa waited for us safe. We had defeated the trolls.
Walking through fairyland
Ellie had been waiting to play with me this way for a long time. Part of me mourns the fact that we don’t do this more often, that I find myself too “busy” to enter into play with her this way. As we returned home, Ellie and I had this connection, this special time that brought us together in the gardens.
As I went to bed that night, I shared with my husband that I believed I had today I had helped create one of Ellie’s favorite memories she will have of the two of us. But maybe that is not true, maybe this was not so special for Ellie, after all she gets to play this way with her friends. No, I believe that what took place was more of a gift for me than for her. She is the one that took me to fairyland and presented me with one of the most precious memories I have with her. Somehow, in giving her what she most wanted from me – my attention – I was given a deep connection with my first-born, and a memory that I will treasure forever.
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