Down the Rabbit Hole

Princess in the Rearview

Sometimes my morning commute is much more…this morning it was magically transformed into a royal shuttle for one very fashionable little princess.

One of the benefits of having older female cousins is that they will occasionally weed through their old toys and deliver bags of these gently and sometimes not so gently used playthings to their eager little cousin. These discarded items become instant treasures to Jaden, even more enticing then new toys because they were used by those older girls she adores and emulates. This weekend’s haul yielded a tiny Minnie mouse magnet, angel bear, a bag of Barbie dolls and a Tinkerbell cell phone. Jaden was delighted but when Desi pulled out the plastic yellow and pink princess crown, my daughter’s whole face lit up. She wore that crown, paired with purple sunglasses and strings of multicolored beads, all through dinner and the hours that followed. She would have worn it to bed if I let her. As it was, I had to coax and bribe her to take it all off for her shower. This morning, she retrieved the ensemble and waited patiently by the door in full-on princess gear, complete with that tiny Tinkerbell cellphone dangling from one wrist. Apparently when you are a princess, you just never know who may call you on your way to daycare.

My husband and I shared amused looks and stifled our giggles as we loaded her into the car, knowing that Jaden felt every bit as fabulous as she thought she looked. What kind of parents would we be to break her precious princess bubble? There is often a fine line between looking sensational and looking ridiculous but for a child, no such boundary should ever exist.

Sometimes life hands you moments that are so pure and magical they make up for all the bad and insipid ones we have to deal with. This morning, watching my daughter in the rearview mirror, smiling and singing along to her tunes, looking every bit like she belonged on a Mardi Gras float…. was one of those moments. The chronic stomach pains I’d been struggling with and the busy stream of thoughts and concerns in my head just melted away and it was just me and my princess in the rearview. Every time I ventured a glance at Jaden my heart felt as if it would explode with pride and joy.

I refused to let her wear the ensemble into school only because I feared she’d loose one or more of the important elements in amongst the detritus of the busy classroom. I promised her it would be safe with me and that she could put it all on again as soon as I picked her up today. She relented but insisted on taking the Tinkerbell cell phone with her. After all Princesses are very popular people and as noted earlier, you never really can tell who may call you….