A Magical Day

7.
My little girl is 7. I have been nervous about this birthday. She had been talking about turning 7 since the day she turned 6 and all the exciting things that were going to happen on the day she turned 7. Castles, princesses, fairies, costumes, whistles, hats...her list was extensive.

She doesn't usually ask for very much, but 7 seemed to be the magic number. She wanted her friends from the islands, her friends from the Carolinas, her cousins from the west coast and of course, her little friends from here. She had talked throughout the year of the pogo stick, stroller, dolls and indeed, baby sister, that were sure to arrive on her 7th birthday.

There wasn't going to be that gorgeous stroller at FAO Schwartz that she looks at with dreamy eyes every time we visit the store and wonders aloud whether she might have it for her 7th birthday. There wasn't going to be the majority of those 7 year old dreams. It wasn't going to happen.

I decided that that was okay. It wasn't - isn't about - the biggest best birthday bash, but about letting her know how special she is and having a little bit of fun in the mix. So, we had a birthday adventure.

She is a little Jr. Nancy Drew in training. She loves clues, exploring and solving riddles. So, after her morning wake up call, complete with 7 flowers, one for each year of her life and tea in her special tea set. We started our day with little clues (passages from her favorite books) that once solved directed her to our next little moment.

It went a little something like this:

She found her first clue with tales of Alice in Wonderland neatly tucked in the door of our brownstone. Off we went to Alice's Tea Cup for tea and a surprise, her little friend, Isabella.



After tea and story time with Gramsy, we skipped our way over to the park with wings to help the little happy girls along the way.





Our ride through the park brought us to the water's edge where the next clue had the girls jumping with excitement.


The girls rowed for a total of a minute before returning the oars to Matt to navigate us from bridges to fountains to quiet corners of Central Park.

Graceanna sang songs with her little friend, pointed out critters swimming in the water and laughed... a lot.


She and Isabella fluttered through the park laughing and singing and stopping to ask a musician if they could play his harp with him.

Another clue awaited them and they could hardly contain their joy. It was off to American Girl Store to window shop with their dolls and get ribbons put in Josephina and Violet's hair. Josephina and Violet are their beloved little dolls.

Surrounded by crowds of beautiful dolls the girls floated from doll to doll, outfit to outfit, just happy with their dolls' new ribbons.

With the last clue in hand, the girls sang all the way to Le Carrousel in Bryant Park.



With brightly colored tokens squeezed tightly in hand they road nearly every beautiful animal on the carrousel. Laughing and singing, never to the music of the carrousel. But to me, it was perfect harmony.


There a few special little friends joined Graceanna to sing happy birthday at a little table near the carrousel.


With the carrousel music in the background, cupcakes were devoured and children's laughter harmonized with its storybook tunes.



The sun was just beginning to set, the busy day's traffic seem to be slowing down, the lights around the park were glowing and the carrousel's little lights twinkled as it continued to turn, filled with happy little children.




An evening concert of stringed instruments brought a modest gathering of listeners around the nearby fountain and welcomed in the beautiful evening.

And there among it all was my happy little girl.

"Mom, this is magical!" she announced while fluttering back from dipping her feet in the fountain.

It kind of was. Nothing expensive, extravagant. No FAO Schwarz luxury doll stroller or big bash with lots of guests and packages. Just a perfect, magical little day. And that was more than okay.

Long after the sun had set and we said goodbye to our little friends, our car traveled quietly over the Brooklyn Bridge heading for our little corner of the city. A sleepy smiling little girl with her doll tucked under arm and her butterfly wings held between still fingers, softly said, "Mom, this was the best birthday day ever... thank you for the adventure..."




Happy Birthday to my wonderful daughter whose heart is as beautiful as her sweet smile and who melts mine daily. I love you more than carrousels and cupcakes, more than ice cream cones and daffodils, more than well, you know the rest!