The Mama & the Slippers: A Story of Love & Temporary Insanity

Once Upon A Time...there was a Mama who had a sweet Little Girl...

 ...and a sweet Little Boy.

It was just about time for them to start preschool and The Mama was trying to get everything ready for them.  One thing they needed was slippers.  Thinking it would be easy to get some slippers, they set out on their quest.  They searched high and low.  They searched in stores and online.  But every slipper was too small, or too big, or too furry, or not comfy looking, or "if I wear them all the kids will laugh."  Finally, the Little Boy announced that what he really wanted was dinosaur slippers, but not just any dinosaur slippers.  After searching high and low, the only dinosaur slippers he wanted were the ones Made by Rae (which were technically dragons, but he thought they were stegosaurus slippers, and that was okay).  

The Mama said, "But you can't buy those.  I would have to make them."  

The Little Boy said, "Okay."  

The Little Girl said, "Can mine be purple and pink?"

And even though the Mama knew this would be a bigger project than she wanted to undertake, when her children looked at her with their sweet smiles and their loving blue eyes convinced that she was the only person in the world who could make exactly what they wanted, temporary insanity took over and she said,

"Okay."

They set out on another quest to the fabric store to pick out the perfect colors of fabric and trim for their dinosaurs.  While they were looking, the Little Girl spotted a lovely owl flannel.

 She picked it up and held it to her heart and said, "Oh, Mama, I love this so, So, SO much!  Couldn't you please make me ballet slippers out of THIS?"

And even though the Mama knew that she didn't even have a tutorial of how to make a pattern for owl ballet slippers (which would make the project much more difficult), when the Little Girl looked at her with pleading eyes convinced her Mama could make her dreams come true, temporary insanity took over and she said, 

"Okay."

The Mama got home,and did some research, and made her patterns based on Rae's expert advice (yes, Rae's instructions informed the ballet slippers), and then she started to trace and cut and piece together and sew.  Then the sewing machine broke and after fixing it a couple times only to have it break again, she pulled out her backup sewing machine to give it a go.  Even though she had never used it before and it was a completely different machine than she was used to and she was having to read the manual as she went, temporary insanity took over and she said, 

"I will finish these slippers."  

And then the slippers took much longer than she planned and even though she was trying her hardest to get them finished before the Open House, time was escaping her.  As she watched the clock and it drew closer and closer to the time she needed to leave...and then the time she needed to be there, and she knew that she was going to be flustered and late temporary insanity took over and she said, 

"I WILL finish these slippers."

After her husband dragged her away to the Open House, and she apologized profusely for not having any slippers for her children, she returned home re-energized and ready to tackle the slippers.  Before long she had one dinosaur finished, but when she tried it on her Little Boy she discovered that the way she made it wouldn't work and it was too big and it would fall off.  And even though she knew she had still had time to throw in the towel and buy some Lightning McQueen and Princess slippers off Amazon, temporary insanity had taken full hold and she said, 

"I WILL FINISH these slippers!"

Then she started on the Little Girl's slipper and made many mistakes and had to pull out many seams.  And the whole time she knew no matter what she did she might not have slippers at the end because she was making the whole slipper pattern up as she went along (and she really had no clue what she was doing), and she probably needed sleep to make everything work, temporary insanity had completely taken over.  So she stayed up late into the night furiously sewing and screaming,

"I WILL FINISH THESE SLIPPERS!!!"

Finally, the next day - after spending some time away from the project - she sat down and added the final touches that brought it all together.  And as the completion of the project pushed the temporary insanity farther and farther away, she sat down and triumphantly sighed,

"I finished the slippers!"

The Little Boy's stegosaurus slippers.

The Little Girl's Owl Ballet Slippers.

  The Little Boy and Little Girl were especially happy because they had picked every single thing on their slippers - from the fabric, to the style, to the buttons that made eyes or just pretty decorations.

 And they put their slippers on and tried a little dancing...

 ...and provided the soundtrack to a stegosaurus slipper conversation...

 ...and stood around just looking cool...

...and they were SO happy.

And despite the crazy amount of effort...and the problems...and the temporary insanity, when it was all done, The Mama felt like it had been worth it all.  Because sometimes a big part of making your kid's dreams and wishes come true is showing them how much they are really, truly loved.  However, just in case the Little Boy and Little Girl didn't realize how much the effort and insanity proved their Mama's love, The Mama added a small, special touch that would be with them to remind them of her love whenever they wore the slippers.

And just like the stegosaurus slippers, The Mama, the Little Girl, and the Little Boy looked ahead at the year of preschool and knew that no matter what craziness the year might hold they would live

Happily Ever After

because they were loved.

The End