True story: One of Peter’s friends, Savannah, lost her grandfather recently. The family had divided up Grandpa’s ashes – some for each of his children and some for Grandma. Savannah wanted some, but the grown-ups were not sharing with the children. Before Grandpa died, Grandma had bought “fairy dust” necklaces for all of the granddaughters – they were little glass vials with extra-fine red glitter inside, with some silver decorations on the outside, strung on a satin cord. Since the granddaughters were there, Grandma gave them the necklaces – it had nothing to do with the funeral
. Savannah somehow got it into her head that she DID get some of the ashes, and it was mixed in with her fairy dust. She never took the necklace off. Shortly after returning from the funeral, Savannah came to play at our house. After the kids spent an hour climbing over the fence, running through several yards, doing cartwheels and various other acrobatics, Savannah realized she had lost her necklace. We looked, and we did not find it.
About 9 months later, months that were spent with my kids playing in the yard and climbing on the fence, with me gardening in the back yard, with two different people mowing my yard, and even a birthday party in the backyard and still we hadn’t found the necklace, the boys came running in to tell me that they had found it
. Here is the letter I wrote to Savannah, explaining what happened.
Dear Savannah,
John and Peter found your Fairy Dust pendant today. I want you to know that when you lost it all those months ago, we looked long and hard for it. We knew how important it was to you, because it had a little of your grandfather in it. We looked everywhere – in the fence, in and under bushes, and through every blade of grass, but it just wasn’t there. I even went to the upstairs windows to see if I could see a glint from the sun on the silver mounting. I didn’t see that glint, but I did see something else that might just explain where it’s been all this time.
My neighbors put in a birdbath. Ordinarily, what happens in my neighbor’s yard has nothing to do with losing a pendant in my yard, except that fairies don’t respect fences. You see, I’ve been very careful not to put any water features in my yard, because that was the only thing missing to invite the fairies. Once you’ve attracted fairies to your yard, they are very hard to get rid of, and they are very mischievous. I had already supplied them with flowers every day of the year (they like flowers) and didn’t use chemicals on my lawn to kill bugs (they like bugs). There are lots of places to hide in the different bushes, and lots of things that smell delicious. The only thing missing from a perfect fairy yard was a water source. When my neighbors put that birdbath right next to our fence, I guess the fairies moved in.
While you were running around and climbing on the fence, the fairies must have seen your fairy dust and thought it belonged to them and that they ought to get it back. They must not have realized about your grandfather then. They must have slipped it right off your neck and hidden it away in one of their little spots while we were looking for it. They can be very fast, you know.
What’s most fascinating is what your grandfather did while he was with the fairies. We’ll never know for certain, but I think I know what happened. Before I tell you about that, though, you need to know something about heaven. We all know that good people go to heaven when they die, and that they are made whole and healthy again. What most people don’t know is that it can take a little while to get to heaven, especially if your heart is with the people you love (like your granddaughter). So, your grandfather was back to his young, handsome, healthy self, but still here, spending a little more time with you. And he was much smaller, since part of him went with each member of the family. We couldn’t see him, of course, just like we can’t see the fairies.
The fairies are always intrigued with anything beautiful, and anything a little bit magical. When they got “their” fairy dust back, they were very excited when they found this good looking man who clearly didn’t have those human flaws like being so clumsy, or frail (fairies are so graceful and long-lived that we seem clumsy and frail to them). “Pleased to meet you,” he said when the fairies saw him, “Could you help me get back to my granddaughter?” But the fairies didn’t want him to go. So they took him on an adventure, hoping to convince him to stay with them. First, they introduced him to all the bugs in the yard. I think he liked seeing the ladybugs up close the best, but he didn’t have much patience for the stinkbugs. The fairies let him ride a dragonfly to make up for the smell. Then they took him for a swim so that he could meet the alligators and the fish. He was worried because he didn’t have a bathing suit, but they just made the water stay in the lake when he got out. Magic is so handy! He was excited to see all these things, but kept asking when he could get back to Savannah.
“Oh, but we haven’t shown you the best part yet! There’s so much more to see!” they said. With that, they took him to smell the flowers. Since his nose was young again, and since he could really get close to the flowers, it was an overwhelmingly delicious experience. “That smells fantastic! But really, I’d like to see my granddaughter again. Could you – “ but they interrupted him with “You haven’t even tasted the blackberries yet!” The fairies all took hold of him and flew him off to the blackberry bushes. They were delicious, and he ate so many that his face was almost all purple. The fairies giggled and took him to the birdbath to wash up.
“Well, that was yummy, but I’m full, clean, and had a big day, now I’d really like to go back to my granddaughter. How about it?” he asked. The fairies begged him to stay and offered everything they could think of, but he still wanted to go back. Their hearts were so heavy at having to say goodbye to him that they moved slowly while they took him back. It took them months to make the trip from the birdbath to the fence. While we were sleeping last night, the fairies wedged your necklace into the fence and said goodbye to their new friend.
I suggest you keep your necklace at home when you come to visit us again – I wouldn’t want them to steal him away again!
Emily
I wish I knew how to make this a published work, or how to make it something appropriate for children. Unless you’re a kid who has already experienced the death of a loved one and is comfortable with the concept of cremation, it’s a little over the top. And it’s a little childish for most grown-ups. Instead, I guess this is the right place to share it. Hope you enjoyed it!
