One of the best things about life with my four-year-old is the surprising results of her imagination and enthusiasm mixed together.
She doesn’t see the limitations of life the same way I do, and it’s a great lesson for me, though it’s also annoying at times.
“Mom, our house is a diamond castle,” she’ll begin, “and the you’re a queen.” When told that I have to make dinner, even if I am wearing an old bridesmaid gown from 2001, she’s undeterred.
“The kitchen is your palace,” she announces, and suits up in a sparkly blue dress and high heels. Her little sister, smitten with the thought of shoes, digs into my closet and thumps around the house squealing.
My house is a far cry from a diamond castle. Barbie won’t be stopping by to shower compliments on my design choices, and though we have a pretty impressive variety of dress-up clothes, I’m pretty sure Barbie and her comrades can outdo us in selection.
This doesn’t stop my four-year-old, though. What she sees isn’t the end of the story.
It’s a reminder to keep dreaming, to keep my sights set higher, to stay with my ideals, however unrealistic or silly they may seem.
These are the thoughts that were whirling through my head when I wrote this week’s column on Our Lady of Liesse, a tale which has knights and princesses and adventure galore. The Queen of Heaven, after all, is not one to shun the stuff of fairy tales.
Maybe I need to find a picture of Our Lady of Liesse and put it in my kitchen. She and I can share in the palace of my domesticity, the royalty of my busy errands, and the entourage of little princesses who accompany me most of the places I go.
I beg to differ – I think that Barbie and all the Disney Princesses would find your house a most desirable diamond castle. Your house is just what they are made of – imagination, dreams, hopes, fun, laughter and a mom who isn’t afraid to make dinner in a old bridesmaid gown and sparkly shoes. All kids should be so lucky! Keep up the memory building Queen of the Diamond Castle.