The Hair in the Who

When I was little, I loved playing Star Wars. Being a brunette...and a girl...I identified with Princess Leia. We'd hop on the swings and have smooth sailing for a while. At least until those pesky Stormtroopers in their TIE fighters would show up. Then, we'd fly out of control, swooping and twisting and calling out, "Mayday!" It was the best time ever!

I remember one summer, playing Star Wars with my cousins and brothers on my grandmother's porch. Awesome porch, too. And to prepare for my role as the lovely Leia, my mom parted my hair and attempted to re-create the infamous cinnamon rolls. My fine little girl hair didn't want to cooperate, but she managed to make it close enough to satisfy me. I felt like Leia...and that's all that mattered. Didn't matter that I wore shorts and a t-shirt, was under four feet tall, and gravity-bound to Earth.

Today, I got the pleasure to extend that hair fantasy to my littlest one. As with the rest of the world, she is obsessed with Frozen. (We are counting down the days to the DVD release.) As we're getting ready to face our day, I asked her if she wanted to do anything with her hair.

Now, let me explain a bit about this child. She hates having her hair touched. In fact, we cut it short because she didn't like to have it brushed. At that time, it was easy to convince her to go that route. Tangled had just come into our lives, and she was a miniature version of Rapunzel after her hair was cut off, lost its magic, and turned brown. (Thanks, Disney, for adding to the brunette's complex with that little tidbit.)

So we're transforming from Rapunzel to Elsa now. Nevermind that we have much darker hair than Elsa. And much shorter.

Somehow, I managed to wrangle a good portion of the short dark hair into a tiny braid. But you should have seen her face. She was aglow with her imagination! As she looked in the mirror, I knew she could see a happy little girl with a lengthy white-blonde braid staring back at her.

Oh...and the gloves. Elsa wears gloves...so my little one is bearing bright purple one-size-fits-all gloves. Whatever makes her happy, right?

All that to say, it's awesome being able to pass along the magic. I love seeing her daydream and wonder. I enjoy those quiet moments when we can discuss the good aspects of character and how she can be like that. I thank God for every second we have together, because I know the magic of childhood doesn't last all that long.

Make magic for your kids. It's totally worth it!

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