Friends of fairies wear boots too.

December 12, 2020 10:13 AM

A welcome warm story about real life fairies and their environs. I just stumbled on this heartwarming twitter thread about fairy life...

We have a few fairy gardens her in Victoria, British Columbia. Are they catching on all over? Do tell...

posted by not_that_epiphanius (13 comments total)

So lovely! When I was a girl, someone left me a note like that. There was no grand followup but I was enchanted by it, even so.

There are some people who would probably say it isn't good for the girl to build on her fantasy life by making it "real" and keeping up with her; maybe they're right, I don't know. But I think that adults can worry too much about the pain children might feel when the magic fades. If they handle it well, Eliana will forget about her fairy friend pretty soon, as kids do, and then when she grows up she will remember it fondly.
posted by Countess Elena at 11:43 AM on December 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

I loved that! Thank you for sharing!!
posted by Merricat Blackwood at 12:23 PM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

fairies gather in their masses... \m/
posted by j_curiouser at 12:30 PM on December 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

I loved this so much. Thank you for posting it!
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:04 PM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Yay, that is awesome. Though, maybe if the fairy was "passing through town" or something like that, then the little girl would not be disappointed trying to contact her in the tree for the next couple years.
posted by Glinn at 2:31 PM on December 12, 2020

This was delightful. I went full Pixar weepy by the end. Thank you for posting!
posted by FallibleHuman at 2:52 PM on December 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

When I worked at an after-school program, we did an art project every spring where we took the kids on a nature walk to collect twigs and leaves and interesting rocks, and then built a fairy village with them in the school garden. I would then recruit the third- and fourth-graders to help me hide ‘gifts from the fairies’ for the K-2 kids.

Some of the littlest kids really believed it, and some were skeptical, and the older kids knew for sure it was make-believe, but absolutely no one ever spoiled it for the believers. It’s still one of my favorite things I ever did at that job.
posted by nonasuch at 3:47 PM on December 12, 2020 [12 favorites]

It sounds like the author handled it pretty well - made sure the parents knew and kept in contact so she knew where the line was, and ended it gracefully so the kid can move on once it was no longer feasible.
posted by Merus at 4:11 PM on December 12, 2020 [6 favorites]

After seeing the post title, I just have to tell this story: When my son was about 3 years old, we were in the grocery store - he was sitting in the grocery cart basket. While we were in line, he says to me: "Mommy, do fairies wear boots?". He was dead serious when he asked the question. As soon as he asked me that question, I knew where it came from. His dad was a big metal fan.

A sweet, sweet memory. End derail.
posted by sundrop at 6:15 PM on December 12, 2020 [6 favorites]

That was so very sweet.
posted by doctornemo at 6:21 PM on December 12, 2020

Yay, that is awesome. Though, maybe if the fairy was "passing through town" or something like that, then the little girl would not be disappointed trying to contact her in the tree for the next couple years.
posted by Glinn at 2:31 PM on December 12 [+] [!]

Glinn, if you read to the end of the thread she explains how she and the mom closed the loop with the little girl—it was very clever and kind.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:52 PM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Ann Arbor has fairy doors
posted by brujita at 6:57 PM on December 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Washington Post article on this.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:05 PM on December 14, 2020 [1 favorite]