This is actually a picture of my son looking out the front window at the snow. I've had the picture of the window tucked away for a while and used it to create this fantasy image of PJ The Butterfly {waiting for his mommy to let him outside to play with all his little butterfly friends.}
There is a story I would tell my son when we went for walks last summer and fall concerning the numerous dragonflies that seemed to be wherever we were: in the yard, on the fence, on the antena of my car, in the flowers, etc. etc. Dragonflies were everywhere last year! A few of them even landed on me: my finger, arm, allowing for some great photo opportunities!
The story is about a kingdom of the past, a land that was inhabited by fairies of every shape, size and color. Beautiful fairies with huge glorious wings that were iridescent and when caught the light glimmered like jewels in the sun. These fairies were known for their wings which were very precious and worth their weight in gold.
This kingdom of fairies reigned in peace for hundreds of years with no enemies. Their leader was the Fairy King and he was kind, fair and good. The fairies in the kingdom got along perfectly well with the wood nymphs, the mermaids and the unicorns of nearby neighboring lands. Occasionally the elves in the next kingdom over could be a bit of a problem because they liked to play their harmonicas too loudly but it was nothing the fairies couldn't handle. They all worked together to create a sweet little life for themselves. There were shoemaker fairies and baker fairies and clown fairies and jewelry fairies and chocolate maker fairies and market owner fairies... in other words, a fairy for everything that was needed to make a kingdom run smoothly and happily.
During the day they gathered the harvest from the fields, crops of the tiniest most delectable strawberries and the sweetest of corn {it would taken 10 fairies to harvest one ear of corn and they ate it kernel by kernel because they were so tiny.} They took buttercups and used them to collect the morning dew to drink, and at night they would have mini festivals where they sat together to celebrate the wonderful day they'd experienced together. They sang the song of the Fae and played their tiny lutes and good times were had by all. Every day was a celebration in the kingdom of fairies.
Until one day a darkness fell upon the land. A terrible and most wicked of Wicked Witches learned about the fairies and their precious wings. She cast a spell over the fairy kingdom which placed an invisible net all around the land so no fairy could escape. Immediately fairies became trapped in the net. Luckily their friends were able to help them escape but no fairy could flee from the kingdom. The fairies were terrified. All celebration came to a screeching halt and none of the wee creatures would even venture outside of their homes for fear of being caught. For fairies this is a fate worse than death- to be deprived of the gift of nature.
The witch's second spell was to coat all the flowers and fields with a stickiness that would capture the fairies, trapping them so the Wicked Witch could grab them and snatch off their wings to sell, leaving the poor little fairies to die. This witch didn't care at all about the welfare of the sweet fairies who had lived together happily for years. All that was important to her was selfishness and greed. She would obliterate a species of creature purely for the sake of capitalism, killing them off forever. Extinction. How sad.
But what the Wicked Witch didn't realize was her sister, The Very Good and Happy Witch, knew about her evil sister's plotting and would do everything in her power to stop the madness. She couldn't banish the spells but she could counteract them with white magic of her own. She plotted and pondered until she came up with a plan but it was a plan that would change the fairies' lives forever.
She would cast a spell upon the fairies, transforming them all into dragonflies. They would be disguised so the Wicked Witch wouldn't recognize them. They would also be so small they could fly through the netting and escape to find a new and better land for themselves. After consulting with the King {they were a democracy, of course} the fairies agreed this could be their only hope and asked The Very Good and Happy Witch to work her magic upon them. That night, before the enchantment was to begin, the fairies had the hugest celebration in the history of celebrations: The Celebration of Life.
And the next morning as they began to awaken... they felt different. Lighter, like air. Even more ethereal than they had been as fairies. As they threw off the covers and lifted into the air the first thing they noticed was their wings were even more beautiful than before. Shining and glimmering in the morning light they buzzed from house to house greeting one another in excitement. Inspecting themselves in droplets of morning dew they realized that while they looked different they felt the same if not better!
So the dragonflies flew off to find another kingdom where they flourished and lived happily ever after all the way up until today.
The End
So... whenever you see a dragonfly remember with those beautiful wings- they are really fairies in disguise!
...............................................................................................................................
Ah
Imagination... how I love thee. Remember when we were children and anything was possible? When we believed in Santa Claus and The Tooth Fairy? Oh how easy it was back then to
believe. Just trust and believe. We really didn't know any different, did we? Blissfully unaware.
Wouldn't you love to revert back to that old childhood state of mind? To stop the constant questioning of motives, debunking of facts and overall skepticism of everything that is beautiful in the world. To readily believe in what some call the unbelievable: UFO's, ghosts, fairies, magic... even honest politicians.
In other words, a lack of cynicism.
If my ancestors were alive and were asked about things that go bump in the night, like ghouls and vampires, they would chastise
us for not believing. What made them wrong and us right? I'm sure they had their reasons to check the graves of loved ones close to sundown to assure all was well- making damn well sure to exit the premises before the sun fell too far behind the horizon. Who knew what lurked in the dark shadows of night?
What happened to the magic in living? Too many of us live in the past or the future and let the now just pass us right by and that's no way to live. God didn't bless us with the gift of creation {and the ability to create} to throw it all away in the chaos. Okay, so Santa wasn't real. Or wasn't he? For those few blissfully innocent years that you did believe, wasn't the old jolly fat man much more than just a figment of your imagination? Who says that just because we grow to become adults we must leave all the open-mindedness behind? I, for one, refuse to do so.
Santa
rocks. The Tooth Fairy and I have tea on Tuesdays, and that darn Easter Bunny keeps stealing all my eggs and hiding them in my house...
It's called
Suspension of Disbelief. The cut and dry version goes like this: to be able to enjoy fiction we, as the audience, must be able to believe in the unbelievable; we must suspend what we would normally believe to be true, allowing ourselves to accept the fiction. If a person is unable to do this then he will have a hard time getting lost in a good book or really becoming engrossed in a film. Instead he'll notice things such as "dogs can't fly" or "cat's can't read" until he's ruined any possibility of a story.
Revel in the fantasy!
So, once again-
Suspension of Disbelief. We all have the ability to do it, and some of us do it more than others. I myself am a dreamer. I don't read a book; I live it. I don't watch a movie or listen to a song- I fall in love with it. Characters become my best friends. I don't just live my life... I
create it.
I own a healthy and robust imagination, and I put it to good use. I abuse it really... I love to read, and I'm a writer. As an artist {jewelry, drawing, photography... a dabbler of all and a master of, ah, ahem. let's just leave it at that shall we?} I enjoy being this way. I often heard as a child, "Oh get your head out of the clouds {or out of that book} and face reality! But where's the fun in that?
Obviously, thank God, I didn't listen :)
My wish for you, my readers, is to practice suspending your disbelief.
Live like a child.
Dream like a child.
Believe like a child... Love life like a child.
Appreciate the little things in life like a child. Once you begin noticing the wonder in the world around you {again because you used to do this- I promise you did} I guarantee you will thank me for it!
