Fairly odd Mother
Tuesday, 30th September 2008
(A true tale:)
I was tending the children when Luke (aged 3) came and jumped on my lap to sit there while his brother read us some jokes out of his little book. "What do you call dogs that lies at the fireplace for too long?" he asked. Shaking my head I said "I don't know". He broke into a smile "hot dogs!"
"What did the angry passenger on the aeroplane say to the noisy child? 'Why don't you go play outside!'. We giggled.
Little Beth (aged 4) came running to join us and she found the wand that one of the kids forgot on my table. "Whose is this?" she wanted to know bright eyed. "One of the other little girls" I explained. "What is it?" she wanted to know. " It's a magic wand" I said turning it in my hand. "The kind that grants wishes?" she asked excitingly. "Yes, I guess so" I said amused. It was a plastic wand, the kind you can get in any toy shop, but to those that believed in its ability it held immense power. "May I see it? Her eyes pleaded. "Sure", I handed it over. She first studied the stick that held a star at the end, as to ascertain its power. Then she swung it around in the air in a most powerful way. "I can grant you wishes!" she announced proudly. "Really?" I raised a skeptic eyebrow. "Yes I can!" her eyes where now fierce with her conviction. "Don't you know I am the fairy godmother?" She asked me that question like I was supposed know that already. " Well, excuse me fairy godmother" I said " Please continue to grant me the desires of my heart". The cheeky 4 year old girl with round cheeks, big eyes and pigtails swirled in her pink dress. "What would you like?" she almost singed. "Uhmmmm... let me think sweety... like Cinderella a big gown with glass slippers" I jokingly answered. Little Beth swung the wand dramatically around her head then pointed it to me "there you go" she announced. "oh thank you!" I exclaimed.Looking at my clothes and shoes. "While you are at it grant me a orange porche instead of a pumpkin so I can go to the ball" I was getting the hang of this game I thought.rnrn"Don't be silly" she said. "If you wish for that I will make the porche appear above you and then it will drop on top of you" Now that wasn't the answer I expected. "You are a sneaky little fairy godmother" almost sadistic I thought. "What else would you want?" the cute little girl wanted to know. I was sucking things out of my thumb to keep her entertained and wasn't really putting much thought into my wishes. " What about a mansion at the sea? Or better yet a house in the mountains." I declared. With the wave of the wand and with sound effects "poof" generated by the fairy godmother the wish was graciously bestowed upon me.
Suddenly a thought occurred to me: What if I was granted these wishes? Would it be what I truly want? Would it have been my serious wishes? If this was my genie in the bottle granting me 3 wishes would this be what I wish for? Definitely not!! What would I do with a pair of glass slippers? And orange is definitely not my colour!! I started to think about it.
Taking this wishing business seriously. "Ok, I said. I need some more wishes". "You are starting to run out of them!" she cautioned. "But I need more!" I objected. "Hold on" she said "I need to go ask God for more wishes for you. I will be right back" She disappeared around the corner as if to go speak to the Big Boss.
"What is wind?" Luke's brother wanted to know. Luke shrugged lifting his shoulders. His brother grinned "Air in a hurry!" He was enjoying his joke book.
In the mean while Luke was still sitting on my lap, his back facing me. He took the opportunity to play a quick game. Placing his marble in the one hand, he closed both hands behind his back saying "which hand?" he asked. It was really funny. I could see both his hands because they where facing me. I tapped his right arm which I knew contained the marble and said "this one!" he shook his head and swapped the marble to the other hand. Showing me the empty hand I have picked!! "Oh, I am bad at this!" I smirked "Lets try again. His brother seeing what Luke was doing objected: "You were right! He is switching hands!" I nodded "I know, his back is facing me, I can see everything." I winked.
"What do men do standing up, woman do sitting down, and dogs do on three legs?" I was afraid to answer that one. "No, tell us" I said. "Shake hands" he said.
The fairy godmother returned skipping." God says it's ok; he will grant you three more wishes. But you can't wish for jackets. We are out of them." By now the situation was becoming precious. I could hardly suppress my smile. "I need more than three wishes sweetheart" I said shaking my head. She was rocking to the sides "Well what would you wish for with theses?" I thought for a moment. "I would wish for True love" I said. She waved her wand and with a "ping" the wish was granted. "Next" she said. This fairy godmother was running a deadline. She was a no-nonsense businesswoman. "I would wish to always be able to love God and to know him" she twirled and spinning said "Ok. There you go!" Hmmm.. I thought what if these wishes where really granted? That could be nice. "Remember you cant wish for jackets" the fairy God mother cautioned. I nodded. "I wish I could sing forever" I said. "Open your mouth!" She said. Pointing the wand into my mouth she said "ting!"
Before my fairy could realize I was running out of wishes I made a few more (luckily she wasn't counting). "I wish for health and happiness" "Ta da!" "And I wish to have my friend back" Her little finger went to her mouth and her eyes turned upward as if thinking. "Is your friend a boy or a girl?" she asked. "It's a boy" I said. She sighed "that's going to be difficult". Shaking her head se said " I will have to go ask God if he can do that". Off she ran again. "What has a mouth, and a fork, yet never eats?" We shook our heads. Strange that they always waited for you to say "I don't know" before they gave you the answer. "A river".
Luke piped up "I have a wish! I want to be spiderman!" For a 3 year old boy the wish was legit. "And I want to be invisible! And I want to be able to fly!" At this age it already showed the male species desire to be strong and powerful, whereas the girls just wanted to be beautiful and desired. I marveled how this was reflected in my own wishes about silly glass slippers and ballroom dresses. As girls we just wanted to be admired.
His brother interrupted Luke's day dreaming "You only get three wishes silly! Think carefully about what you want and then make the wishes". How age brought wisdom along with it. Luke thought for a second then said "In that case" he took his finger and pointing it at my forehead touching it while making his wish "I wish you no clothes!" Then he looked at me with expectant eyes awaiting his wish to come true.
I think that also represented probably more of the male species day to day wishes than would ever be admitted by them. I started to laugh. Boys just want to admire beauty.
The book Wild at heart by John Eldridge and the sequence Captivating is a must read to understand the natures of both men and woman. I highly recommend these two books as some of the best reading material I have ever read. If you only read two books your entire lifetime make it these two. I promise you won't regret it!
"What does the sea say to the sand?" We all put on our clueless look. "Not a lot - it mostly waves!"
"Oh, oh, and hear this one!" he added excitingly: "Did you hear about the wooden car with a wooden engine and wooden wheels?"
"It wooden go!"
My fairy was back again. And her answer was "Yes, you can have your friend back!" I was glad. My family and friends are my treasure and the riches of this world. I am the richest and happiest person alive because of them. People alone are what you get to take with you to heaven. Good memories and amazing people are the only things you get to take along. They say friends are the family we get to choose. I believe that.
I was afraid I would loose my friends and family the people I loved the most. I wanted them to be safe. Forever safe in life and in my heart. If only we could keep the people we care about shielded from this world and its hurt. Like these children unaware of the world of danger outside the boundaries of the play area. But that was a wish that was not always possible. It was a prayer that God in his goodness granted us: safety for our loved ones. What else could I possibly want from this world? I looked at the sweet little faces in front of me.
"This is your last wish" the fairy godmother reminded me. I gave Luke a light squeeze and looked at my fairy godmother. "I would one day love to have wonderful little boys and girls like you lot."
She smiled pointing her wand at my belly and said:
"Fat!"