I celebrated my birthday last week and was touched when my 18 yr old son gave me a gift.
Imagine my surprise when I opened the gift to find some items for a fairy garden.
Well, let me back up a bit.
I have always wanted a fairy garden, but have never had time to focus on building one.
I love looking at them anytime I see one.
When we’re in a store that sells items for a fairy garden or that has fairy garden displays, I can’t help but linger.
I have so many Pinterest boards devoted to fairy garden ideas.
I’ve acquired items at yard sales, such as antique tubs, whiskey barrels, and wagons that I’ve said I was going to turn into fairy gardens.
However, living in a household full of boys(even my daughter is a tomboy!), and focusing on them and their hopes and desires, hasn’t really given me time to build a fairy garden.
Although there was one summer…..
It makes me cringe to even think about it.
I had two little girls in my in-home daycare that were very close in age to my youngest son.
I decided that while the youngest children napped each afternoon, the two girls, my son and I would work on building fairy gardens.
We each purchased a planter, all different sizes.
We were going to have a contest and let all the kiddos vote on their favorite at the end of the summer.
I’d scour Pinterest each evening and print out different ideas.
I even made collages full of ideas for inspiration.
We’d go on “fairy garden hunts” searching for items for our gardens.
Our rule was that we had to make everything. Nothing could be store-bought.
We collected bottle caps, acorns, pine cones, water bottles, pebbles, twigs, you name it and we had it.
A whole box full of treasures.
We spent hours and hours together, laughing, building, talking, imagining, and creating.
Our ideas almost never turned out.
Everything kept falling apart.
We were getting frustrated.
We put them outside(up until then, we’d kept them on my hutch).
The first night outside, and someone came by and smashed them all.
We still had “creations” all over my dining room that we were going to add.
We were so sad and disappointed that we just gave up.
I still have that longing to build one every time I see someone else’s or hear the word.
However, I haven’t begun to.
I still pin ideas to my Pinterest board all the time, with the intention of one day making one.
So, I opened these simple gifts from my son, and I couldn’t help but gasp.
All these years….how had he known how badly I wanted this? I knew my youngest knew, but not this child.
I had tears in my eyes when I thanked him.
He said, “mom, I know these are cheap gifts, but as soon as you’re finally ready to build it, I promise to work on it with you every spare minute I have.”
My heart just squeezed with joy.
I’ve been dealing with a lot of loss these last few years, and I sometimes really struggle with it.
I’ve felt so sorry for him because he didn’t get a graduation party or an 18th birthday party(because of Covid-19).
This simple gift reminds me of what is really important in life:
Faith, Family, and Love.
I find fairy gardens to be magical, just as our parenting journey is.
Now I’m clicking over to Pinterest to look for some fairy garden ideas!
My next post will highlight some of my favorites that I find.
If you have a fairy garden, I’d love to see pictures or hear about your creations!
