I am doing something different today.  I was in the mood to tell you a funny story…

Can You Fly?

Tinkerbell Can!

When my first grandchild Myia was born I had the privilege of watching her during the day while mommy worked.  I would spend hours pretending with her and teaching her how to pretend while stretching her little imagination.

This is a picture of Myia and her Poppy when she is around 3 years old.   During this time she  loved Tinkerbell.  She also loved to play dress-up so one day I took her to the store to buy a Tinkerbell costume.  She was thrilled and held it tight in her arms all the way to check out.

As we drove home, she was giddy about putting on the new outfit.  Being the crazy Gammy that I am, I was really playing it up too.  She said, “Gammy, Tinkerbell can fly!”  I replied, “I know, Isn’t that great?”  Then she casually said, I’m going to fly too.  I just smiled at how cute she was and the anticipation on her face was priceless.

When we arrived home with the costume, I could not get it out of the box fast enough.  Don’t you hate it when they have a million ties in the box?  So as I untie everything, I am sharing her excitement talking about how pretty she will be as a Tinnkerbell and she said, “Uh huh and I’m gonna have wings!”  I encouraged her by saying, “Yep, you will have wings just like Tinkerbell.”

Finally I release the final tie and we quickly dressed her up.  Oh my goodness, she was so adorable.  The last thing to attach were the wings.  As soon as I put them on her, she raced over to stand on a step that was around 8 inches high.  She excitedly yelled, “Look Gammy, I’m gonna fly!”  I clapped and cheered her on as she stood there getting ready.

The next thing I know, she squats her knees, reaches her arms out in front of her and plunges off of the step in a not so perfect swan dive.  Her belly landed first and her eyes were huge.  I was speechless for a few seconds until I knew she was okay.  She looked at me confused and said, “Gammy, I didn’t fly.”  Then the light went off in my head when I realized she really thought she would be able to fly!  So I stood up and fluttered my arms and danced around the room pretending to fly, telling her to pretend.  She agreed.

The next think I know, she goes back to the step.  I remind her that her wings are pretend and fluttered my arms again to show her.  She said, okay and then started fluttering her arms too.  As I sit there watching her moving her arms, I am astounded when she leaps off of the step fluttering her arms.  She lands in a crumpled heap on the floor.  I am stunned.  Slowly she brings herself to sit up and with her head hanging, she muffled, “Gammy, my wings are broke.”

What can I say?  Over the years my family has all wished that I had caught this on video.  I do believe we would have won some money.

So the moral of the story is this… If you are going to teach children to use their imagination, keep it real!!!!!  😉

Have you ever tried to fly?

Myia is now 10 years old.  Check out her first video:  Sewing With Myia