Costumes And Who We Are

At Halloween, I think about costumes. I believe Daisy, having a birthday mere days before Halloween, was born thinking about costumes for her birthday parties and for trick-or-treating.

For her fifth birthday, Daisy chose to be a princess. I went to my sewing stash and picked out a piece of neon pink fabric to fashion into a gown suitable for a five-year-old, pre-K princess. Daisy loved it. And I was left with a problem: Birdie, the Little Me-Too.

The pink gown caught Birdie's eye. And suddenly, she, too, demanded to wear a princess gown. I didn't have pink fabric left.. So I reached deep into my stash and pulled out a remnant of white cotton fabric sprinkled with black and white cows and red hearts. I cut and stitched it into a Birdie-sized gown, slapped a flower on the front and presented it to her. She loved it, cows and all.

I believe that costumes reveal something about who we are or whom we want to be. For Halloween, I have dressed as a witch, a clown and a gypsy. Daisy tends toward beautiful witch, Hula Girl and kitty cat. I'm told that Birdie will be a Hula Girl this year. But in Birdie's younger days, that cow gown started something. Like other girls, Birdie dressed as a fairy and an angel. But sporting cows fed her imagination and need to color outside the lines. Birdie--like it or not--is a free spirit. She can dress as a broom, a strawberry or a Mad-Hatter cabaret singer.

I know college-age Birdie isn't pleased that these photos are out. But I hope she takes a close look at them before she demands that I remove them. Birdie is a girl who loves life and goes where others won't. Silly photos or not, the world needs more Birdies.

I could have dug much harder through my fabric stash to find a shred of royal purple or sapphire blue. But then Birdie wouldn't have been Birdie. And where's the fun in that?