Fairy Tales

O, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales.” 
― Leo Rosten

     Once again, I present the reader with words that make me feel alive.  I don't really know what it is about this quote from Leo Rosten that resonates so much in me.  I've read it over at least 20 times in the past few days and every time I read it, I get chills.  Perhaps it is because I know now how true it is.  I know that, as an adult, I am preoccupied with responsibility.  I have work to do and little time for play.  Those uncomfortable disguises become like skin and become who I am.

    And, once in a while (especially in the summertime), the child breaks the adult disguise and shows herself.  She really needs very little.  She is a happy kid who needs only healthy food, a place to run and play, sunshine, naps, and connections with people who love her.  How simple is that?

   And fairy tales?  Fairy tales tend to include fantasy characters and often involve enchantment or magic.  They can end with unusual happiness (as in:  "The story had a fairy tale ending" ).  Fairy tales are not only stories that aren't true; they are stories that can't be true.  The child lives in a world that can't be true as she will find out when the uncomfortable disguises of adulthood become her uniform.

    So perhaps the attraction to the words has to do with a longing to hold the child, to spend more time with her.  But that sparks of a fairy tale, a story that can't be true.  The days to be a child were then.  Now?  You can visit those days but you can't go back there.  Spending my work days with big kids does allow me to visit those days and, for that, I am fortunate.  But how about those little tiny kid days? That is when the child is fully alive, fully living in the moment.  Meet two of my favorite little kids here.
Never mind that they are now all grown up......