December 2, 2019
I can see already that these “daily” posts will be done in less than daily fashion but none-the-less their intent and impact will be the same. One (read: I) cannot produce one of these….on demand…every night.
That said, Today, we were invited to our new next-door neighbor, Nancy’s, for her niece’s 8th birthday party. She and her parents were visiting from South Carolina along with Nancy’s mum and dad from North Carolina. New house for Nancy, a new place for the rest of the family, a new neighbor for us!
I pondered through the day what token gift we could show up with for a virtual stranger-to-us 8-year old. Leanna had been fascinated with our parrots, Jake and Zeke, when she walked in, as most children are, so I thought maybe a feathered, fake, parrot; something to nestle in a gift bag with fancy paper. Dave suggested a parrot jigsaw puzzle, another even better idea! And so, I went in search of.
Really, quite unfortunately, the only place that had any jigsaw puzzles was Walmart, a categorically forbidden locale for my non-commercial heart, but I braved the Cyber Monday crowd and ventured in only to be once again re-confirmed of my absolute loathing of this gargantuan temple of torpidity. A full fourteen aisles of toys. I was trying to count the number of actual, store-bought (there’s a dating turn of phrase), toys I had as a child; I ran out before I had reached ten fingers.
No parrot anything in Walmart.
Next, I tried Michael’s crafting store (precisely because I could not go near a Hobby Lobby for obvious political and moral reasons) and had no more luck there in the parrot mission than before. But I did have an idea.
Young girls (and women and some men) like to journal; it’s a thing now-a-days. Why not find a fanciful small journal and encourage Leanna’s young, curious, mind to write about the things she had seen and the people she had met on her Thanksgiving trip? I found a great journal with a fluffy Guinea pig topped with a glitter party hat and a selection of pink and purple pens to begin her journey. Stuff it all in a gold-glitter gift bag surrounded by purple-sparkly tissue paper and I believe I may have set another young mind on the adventurous path that is the writer’s journey.
For imagination; mine and Leanna’s, I am grateful today.