when the (fairy)dust settles

it all started as a harmless little storytelling.

once in a while, i get a kick out of entertaining my niece with stories about fairies and fairy land and how i believe they’re all around us. that they’re just waiting for us to notice that they’re actually there.

“but, janjan, i don’t see them!” protested my niece.

call me one crazy aunt but every time she begs to differ, i suddenly tap into my inner academy award-winning actress.

what i’d do is, i get reaaaally quiet and start looking around as if my eyeballs developed tics. then, very softly, i’d excitedly whisper, “oh look who’s here! it’s my fairy friend, (insert whatever random name that comes to mind)!”

freaky, i know. but it gets her to come around and let her imagination run wild and free. trust me, we could go on and on with stories and scenarios for thirty minutes. more, if we really want to. and i like that.

i love how she sometimes comes up with more bizarre ideas than mine that in the end, instead of me entertaining her with made-up stories on the spot, it’s the other way around.

i love how she keeps me on my toes with her out-of-this-world questions:

“janjan, how can i go to fairy land?” (you hire a unicorn. they’re kind of like taxis, except that they fly. but you need to book a ride in advance, though, ‘coz they get really busy.)

“what if i get lost?” (proceeds to instruct the niece to grab a pencil and a paper so she can draw a map from scratch. based on the details i frantically made up in my head from scratch. complete with map legends. ha! and, oh, fairy land is not without an airport. fairy assistance available upon request on arrival.)

“what do they sell at the fairy market?” (everything! they even sell apples that taste like watermelon; bananas that taste like kiwi; strawberries that taste like orange; grapes that taste like pineapple…)

“but i don’t have any money!” (baby, they don’t use money over there. they only accept marshmallows. fairies are crazy about marshmallows!)

“can i buy a rainbow chick in fairy land?” (of course! they cost 3 marshmallows each.)

and on and on and on and on it goes.

by then, our stories have become more complicated. an intricate web of fantastic fabrication whose silk comfortably cocooned us in our own little world where only she and i can completely understand or relate to.

and so, the crazy aunt that i am, i invited her to the grand fairy bonfire party where she’s a very special guest. went all out into crafting a fairy invite specially for her. painstakingly glued ridiculously tiny glitters on to the card. threw in three vials’ worth of “pixie dust” too as an added effect.

aeva's fairy invite