Today, for just a minute, I was a unicorn. A soft, baby-blue mystical, magical unicorn.
And now for the rest of the story.
My oldest granddaughter, having turned five this year, has been undergoing an interesting metamorphosis of late. She started this life with a surprisingly visible reticence. She appraised people with a look that suggested an, at times unnerving, astuteness. As a baby she was serious and fiery, charming and captivating. We weren’t especially surprised to see a lively, fierce rambunctious toddler take her place, nor a horse-loving tomboy when she began preschool.
The sweet, gentle spirit that defines her so completely these days was always there.
However, what has surprised us now is that since she entered kindergarten and discovered a kindred spirit in one of her classmates, there has been a transformation in her attitude, taste and style. We find ourselves looking now at a real little girl — fond of unicorns and rainbows, loving the colour pink, and believing in a world where fairies can chase away bad dreams and princesses understand magic.
Having talked ad nauseum about my grandchildren to a friend at work, including all about our Missy’s enchanting fixation, I opened the door for that aforementioned brief transformation of my own today. My colleague decided we needed to provide a little magic ourselves. So this morning then, she showed up with her adult daughter’s unicorn costume and insisted I try it on. The rest of her plan was that we would send a picture to my favourite five-year-old.
Nothing like Grandma as a unicorn to make life perfect.
It’s unfortunate that this particular costume is too big for our sweet girl. With Halloween arriving, it’s no surprise that her only wish for this particular event is to be a unicorn. While she didn’t inherit her grandmother’s short-person genes, she’s still a tad too small to wear the outfit I had on, which means her mother is busy seeking out affordable ways online to create a realistic costume for her. Input was also gathered at a recent family dinner, where Mommy’s suggestion that another option would do just as well was effectively shot down with a barrage of boos.
The Halloween costume is as important to most little ones as the gown is to the bride. It lets them be their fantasy. They are for that night the superhero, the enchantress, the cartoon character. With that transformation the magic feels real.
Not just for the very young either. Our son’s band annually plays a Halloween show, and attendees are encouraged to dress up for the occasion. The number of participants is as high as the level of enthusiasm. What’s most fun to note is how people seem to really get into character. The costume offers a buffer, an anonymity that permits them to step a little out of their shell and be a little freer.
Even grownups, after all, can wish they were something they aren’t or look to find the magic again.
As I considered what might be a good choice for today’s featured clipart collection, these thoughts of little, and not-so-little trick-or-treaters, and the choices they make for the big night made the decision rather easy.
These illustrations from iCLIPART.com and Clipart.com are full of all the fun and delight this entertaining October celebration warrants:
