A Magical Fairy Princess

She walked out of the school’s front door hand in hand with my son. I looked closely as they approached me and interestingly enough, she wasn’t flying, on the contrary, her feet were firmly on the ground. I offered to give her a ride, not only to get to know the girl who had enamored my boy so much that he wasn’t embarrassed to hold her hand in front of me, but also to look for signs to confirm my suspicions about who she REALLY was. Through the review mirror, I, of course, sized her up. She portrayed herself as the typical teenage girl. Well… not quite typical. Above average I’d say (but I may be biased!). Her strawberry blond long hair was perfectly coifed, curled under at the shoulders. However that lovely style prevented me from finding out whether or not she had pointed ears. She wore an impeccable red wool coat, double breasted. The fitted nature of it seemed to make it impossible that she had tucked her wings under it, but they could have been small or removable. Her boots were polished and high and quite pointed, therefore a positive sign that she was what I assumed. She sat demurely while we small talked. “What color prom dress are you thinking about?” “How is school?” She answered politely and intelligently. I watched closely as she moved and gestured waiting for pixie dust to suddenly cascade from her fingers. It never happened, but she may have been able to control her output of the sparkly stuff. As she exited the car she thanked me for the ride and sweetly said goodbye to my son. She grabbed her backpack and I noticed that it was big enough to hold a very tall and thin wand. Then she walked gracefully up  to her door, the picture of a 16 year old girl. But she didn’t fool me. NUH UH! NO WAY. No matter how hard she tried to hide who she really was she would never pull the wool over my eyes. I knew better! This was no ordinary adolescent girl. This was a fairy princess, a fairy princess who possessed strong magical powers. And she has cast quite a spell (or several spells) on my eldest child.

Let me give you an example. For years, we have been trying to get Aidan to wake up with an alarm. We bought alarms for people who were hard of hearing, alarms that connected to the mattress and gave the sleeper a jolt when it went off, alarms that flew around the room until you turned it off, even an alarm that was a popping jigsaw puzzle that wouldn’t go off until you found and replaced the pieces on the top of the unit. Nothing, not one single alarm worked. He slept right through them, right through the buzzing, jolting, flying, popping, annoying sounds of each and every one. We had given up finding a clock that worked and resigned ourselves that part of our morning routine would be to schlep ourselves downstairs to the teen palace and pound on the locked door over and over until we heard the tell tale teenage grunt that meant the hibernating bear was awake. (Even with the grunt, sometimes we’d have to return just to pound again because the bear apparently wanted more sleep.) But then the magic fairy princess came along. I am not sure you know this but it seems that these magic princesses need a ride home from school which therefore means that the sleep-like-the-dead 17 year old has to get up early to drive ME to work first so that the car is available for him to use after school as her chariot. Lo and behold, using a plain ol’ alarm, nothing fancy, just digital numbers and buttons at the top, that “I-can-sleep-through-a-very-large-forest-fire” adolescent has been up and at ’em, chipper and peppy WAY before my toe even hits the shower. “Come on mom. You’ve gotta move faster.” Come on? And so I ask you, what other explanation is there for the miracle cure of Aidan’s failing ears and teen deep sleep disorder? Magic!

Okay. How about this one? Two years ago when Aidan entered high school, his step father and I decided that it was time for him to do his own laundry. We thought that he learn this skill early in order to start to prepare for college. I vowed when relinquishing this chore that I would not nag or demand. The chore was his and he would decide when and how it got done. I have to tell you that that decision has caused me many sleepless nights. The boy NEVER did his laundry. It was perfectly fine for him to wear garments over and over and over even if they were dirty. Crispy socks, stained tees, muddy bottomed jeans…all were worn with no thought or embarrassment by my adolescent son. When he DID use the washer and dryer it was to wash one outfit and one outfit alone or perhaps a load of underwear. (Hey even HE drew the line at THOSE being dirty. At least he had SOME self respect!) In two years time it is safe for me to say that I have NEVER seen him do an entire load of wash. Two whole years…until two weeks ago. Two weeks ago my son walked through the front door after dropping off the magic fairy princess. We small talked in the kitchen for a minute or two before he opened the door to the teen basement palace and announced, “Gonna do my laundry for the next couple of hours, k mom?” My head snapped to attention.

“You’re doing what?” I asked unable to hide my incredulousness.

“Um, my laundry. Jeez mom, don’t look so surprised. It is JUST laundry.”

As he sauntered down the stairs I studied him to see if he was trailing any pixie dust. No signs of it. I started to think that his fairy princess girlfriend didn’t use pixie dust magic but one that was far stronger. After all, we’re talking laundry here!

But here’s the clincher–The number one reason I am sure that she is no ordinary teenage girl. My son, Aidan, from the time he was able to talk would refuse to go shopping. Any time we’d stop at the mall, or walk into a Big Box store he’d throw one-mighty-fit. His clothing was always bought in what seemed to be a mad dash. Shirts grabbed off the rack, pants yanked from hangers, nothing EVER tried on, thrown up onto the counter with a foot-tapping-teen. Over the past few years, I am pretty sure he developed hives if we even mentioned the word “shopping.” Flash forward to this past Wednesday. He woke up early (with the alarm…hopefully these spells last forever!) He came into my room and sat down on my bed and asked if it would be ok if he didn’t pick me up after school. I asked, “What do have going on after school?” He answered. But I think my ears were unable to decipher the new language coming out of my son’s mouth. So I asked him to repeat himself. He rolled his eyes, (Dear Magic Fairy Princess, is there a spell to stop that?) “Mom,” He said as if he was talking to his deaf 90 year old grandfather. “I am going with _________ (insert Magic Fairy Princess’s real name here) to help her pick out her prom dress.”

“Wait. You are going SHOPPING? For PROM dresses no less?? Will you need an intravenous dose of Benadryl for those pesky hives?”

“Ha ha, mom. You are hilarious.”

A Magic Fairy Princess RETAIL spell? Sound impossible or unlikely? I’d ask Aidan about it, but he’s not home. He’s on a shopping trip WITH his GRANDMOTHER to get new clothes for HIMSELF. Apparently, he is trying all the clothes on to make sure they all fit. He doesn’t want to look shabby. I am assuming that Magic Fairy Princesses prefer their beaus to dress spiffy!

Now if I could just get her to cast a “Do-some-chores-around-the-house” spell, that boy of mine would be pretty near perfect!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Logan Fisher

Logan has lived in Glens Falls, NY all her life. By day, she is an educator with 20 years experience, a mom to Aidan and Gannan, her two teenage boys, a new mommy to a beautiful daughter, Ila, and wife to the love of her life, Jeffrey. By night, weekends and any spare time she can find, Logan writes. She loves memoir and also adores writing essays about the challenges of parenthood. This year she started a parenting blog called A Muddled Mother, an honest place where mothers aren’t afraid to speak of the complications and difficulties that we all inevitably experience. Logan has been published in various children’s and parenting magazines including Today’s Motherhood, Eye on Education, Faces, and Appleseed.