To the Beat

Seat belts are required in this carriage.

This evening Sweet Girl went to her speech therapy appointment in summer attire:  shorts, sandals, tank top, tiara, and amulet.  I managed to talk her into wearing the sandals which are a smidge more practical than the "glass slippers" she wanted to wear.  (They're not actually glass.  That's ridiculous.  They're purple satin with a million rhinestones to make them appear as if they're low-flying disco balls when Sweet Girl gets up a good head of steam.  And that's not ridiculous at all.)  But I let her wear her tiara
and amulet because they made her happy.  It did not hurt a thing to let her wear her Sofia the First costume jewelry to her speech appointment.  It didn't distract her, it didn't offend anyone, and it's not an allergy-inducer.  She wanted to wear it because it made her happy, and I let her because there are days when happy is priority.  Some days happy isn't even possible, so why not allow a situation in which it is?  My kids being happy has a tendency to make me happy.  So the tiara and purple Amulet of Avalor stayed on as we ventured out in public this evening.

Sweet Girl was totally oblivious to any of the looks she received from others.  She knows how to rock a tiara and it's her gift to the rest of the world thankyouverymuch.  Most people just smiled a little and and kind of nodded knowingly as if crowns held together by Scotch tape and a little girl's fantasies are the norm.  One guy did a double take and seemed slightly aghast, but I'm cutting him some slack because I see him every week in the waiting room and I know he has two boys.  They're probably in short supply of plastic formal wear at his house.  Sweet Girl never once wavered in her conviction that she should be wearing these items.  Her inner Warrior Princess felt the need to accessorize and so she went with it.  Even though Sweet Girl has little use for social conventions (you should see the way she walks home from the pool to avoid the dreaded wet-swimsuit wedgy), I'd like to think that she would still wear her tiara and amulet in public every once in awhile if she did.  I'd like to think that at some point everyone of us wears whatever we want in public, regardless of social conventions, if it makes us happy.  I hope the sound of whatever drummer is playing for us doesn't always get drowned out by the din of others' expectations.  Sweet Girl hears her drummer loudly and clearly and in return she sings, hums and skips right along to the beat.  It makes her happy.  And I'll gladly buy all the Scotch tape and plastic necessary, cause I'm all for happy.