Meera’s 5th Birthday (4 of 8)

These three woke up on Memorial Day ready for a party that was just perfect for Meera.

They got it!

First and foremost, it was a morning party — which we’ve never done before — but which I wish we had always done for younger kids’ parties. Little kids are at their best in the morning. And, come on… who are we kidding?!… grown-ups are at their best in the morning too!

We had fruit, bagels, cream cheeses, lox, and mini powdered-sugar donuts. We had sparkling water, plain water, chocolate and vanilla milk boxes. And that was that. And it was perfect! Why did I not always throw morning birthday parties?

Our guests began arriving at 10am sharp. The kids played and painted fairy houses and ate donuts and drank milk. The adults talked and ate bagels and wondered what the “fairy forest” thing was all about.

And then we were off!

OFF TO THE FAIRY FOREST!!!!

“Have you ever seen a real fairy house?!” “Have you ever seen where fairies live?!” “Have you ever gone for a walk in a fairy forest?!”

As it turned out, we all soon discovered, the fairies left a “map” at the entrance of the fairy forest. Meera told her friends all about the map– “see! look! they made a map of the path! and I think they wrote my name here!” It was insect trails etched into a log we had leaned up against a tree.

I think it was then that the kids started to realize something special was going to happen. They caught on to Meera’s sense of wonder, and it was contagious.

We entered the fairy forest and began our walk along what had truly come to feel like a genuinely enchanted path. Meera led the way, looking for the nooks in trees and crevices in rocks that had caught her attention many times before. Quickly, however, early on the path, and to the left, she discovered something new. Oh my gosh! A fanciful and very elaborate fairy house!

As much as I loved the lead-up to this party, the preparations, the making of fairy house furniture at midnight, the glue gun blisters and the collecting of acorn caps… as much as I loved all of that… seeing my turning-5-year-old’s wondrous eyes blew that all away. Watching her was my gift. The icing on the cake was watching her friends, and our friends, discover the fairy forest. Even her brothers were overcome with the mystical nature of it all.

It was pure magic.

And then she looked up. And realized it wasn’t just one elaborate fairy house there in the woods. Up further along the path was another.

And thus began our walk in the fairy forest for Meera’s 5th Birthday Party. It was a magical experience for everyone there. There is wonder and inspiration in the idea of magic created. Even when we know who made it (even when we know we made it), we can still get caught up in it. The magic is in the concept of the creation of it — something good and special made real, out of thin air, for another. And there is something truly special about experiencing magic with others.

My favorite photo of the day:

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Somehow, in the best of situations, magic feels like love. I think everyone there knew that this was a crazy expression of my crazy love for Meera. And love — like magic — is sort of contagious sometimes. People were awed by the wonder of it all. And for a little bit of time that fairy forest was really a lovely magical place. It was a break in time from everything else. Where just for a moment we could be caught up in it together. Like all good magic, there was an amazing quality about it that forces our minds to question the realities we thought we knew. For a moment professors could be fairy-house-makers, five-year-olds could be experts, and genuine relationships could cut across every sort of traditional line.

Our walk in the fairy forest was done. (Although many guests did return later to re-visit it before they went home!)

It was time to head back for cake!