Thrilling Celebrity Visit

9/26/2010

First, some background. For the past couple of weeks, Xander has been enthralled by “The Spiderwick Chronicles”; a series of five short books which detail the adventures of the modern-day Grace Family as I have read the books to him each night (two or three nights per books) and now he had all 5 books on CD borrowed from the Public Library. (He now has suggestions for my dramatic readings….)

In addition to the set of 5 books, he also now has Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to Fantastical Creatures, again borrowed from the Library, so the young man is has become the expert on these types of creatures. Still a little fuzzy on whether they actually, you know, exist but in a 7-year-old’s mind, that’s not as important as how friggin’ cool they are.

There are worse ways to live.

Just on a whim, I recently rented the Spiderwick movie which came out about 2 years ago and is loosely based on the books. About 24 minutes in, he decided he’d rather have me read to him upstairs. Xander is still pretty cautious about PG movies. That is, he gets scared. Oh, well. Maybe when he’s 8.

However, a cheesy movie is nothing compared to the other momentous occurrence from yesterday; a tooth fell out! From Xander. (We’re not that old.) So this presented an opportunity to interact with a real live faerie! Again, he’s still on the fence about the reality of the situation. He is, however, convinced that cold, hard cash will be coming his way. The Tooth Faerie leaves 3 one dollar coins (which, are gold-colored, btw) under his pillow. Of money’s reality, there is no doubt.

Since she would be stopping by, Xander thought he might ask an expert a question that’s been bugging him. With Mommy’s help, he produced the below letter….

 …and tucked it under his pillow. Well, to our astonishment, Xander found a reply under pillow (along with the customary $3) this morning.

 The note from TF reads as follows:

Dear Xander,

Thanks you, for your letter kind,

It shows a bright and curious mind,

And for your letter and your tooth,

I shall gift you with the truth,

Yes! Fairies, my child, are everywhere,

Though you might never glimpse them there.

                                     The Tooth Fairy

I didn’t have the heart to mention (aloud) that the second comma was superfluous and breaks the meter. Things like that have a way of getting back to the Source and causing trouble but this is now an heirloom which shall be handed down for generations of Hardys to come. Truly a red letter day.

Time to get back to mundane existence. I need to fill out some HMO paperwork, the lawn needs mowing and the ice dispenser is jammed again.

Sigh. A 7 year old’s world sounds pretty friggin’ cool sometimes…

Brian