La Vie en Magenta will always chronicle the precious hours that I spend with my little goddaughter Renata, who turned 5 in December. Our season this time was blessed with more moments that once again, made Neverland ever, ever so real.
Having last met in the summer, Renata and I first got to spend an afternoon together in La Rochelle. We briefly shopped at Le Marche’ for treats, then she expertly guided me to the high-end toy store that she remembered from June!
After the carousel and games at the Christmas Market, we visited a bookstore and left with her exiting first and the door closing on me. All afternoon she asked me why did the door do that?? I had no good answer, and now we had something new to laugh about.
Then we spent a long Christmas weekend in the country at her grandparents’ home. Festivities started on Saturday with her 5th birthday party and ended with a post-Christmas Day celebration, with 20+ extended family members.
In all that time, my little love and I had lots of moments to ourselves. At night she slept with me with her new Princess Elsa pillow that was my birthday gift to her. We made puzzles, played games, rode the swings, visited the farm animals, and tried to take naps. Wherever we were, she was almost always immediately next to me. She made sure that at the door, our shoes were always side-by-side.
Next, she came to stay with me for a few days at New Years, arriving at night in the pouring rain. In my particularly dark bedroom, the rooftop and skylights rendered strange noises. I sprayed lavender mist, to ward off monsters and ghosts. This was new for us ;) and, it did the trick.
The next nights called for relaxing massages. With my herbal oils, at bedtime we tenderly loved up feet and heads before watching calming videos and singing lullabies. My little one slept long and soundly, and so did I.
Our first day together we spent long hours indoors with a new dot-to-dot book and other rainy-day activities, and ate yummy meals at home.
The next day we were promised sunny skies and, it rained too. We first visited the animals and playground at the park. We ate pizza and chocolate beignets, and went to the movies to see Wonka. Renata wanted to leave quite soon, then a big song-and-dance number suddenly broke out in the story. Our aisle was wide and uncrowded. She started dancing and was very entertained after all.
The song Pure Imagination ends the film’s story and this one of our favorite lullabies, part of the Kenny Loggins medley that includes Neverland. I sang to her, she danced, and continued to dance out of the theatre, down the stairs to the lobby, out to the street ... almost to the Carousel, the last event of our big day out.
For our few hours together on our last day, we went to the Aquarium. She and I especially loved the Amphitheatre’s film about how the sea creatures are fed, how they mate (they “hold hands”, I told her), and how the babies are born.
After the Aquarium, there was yet another Carousel, and this time we rode a dolphin and a seahorse (me; top foto). She loved the playground nearby, then we had to meet her parents for pickup at 1pm.
The end of this visit felt particularly sad for me, not only because my precious little love always leaves me with such a longingness in her eyes. She also had to leave in a seeming rush this time too, so there wasn’t time to hold her and promise that we’d be together again soon.
And, I don’t know when that will be, which brings me back to my point of sad.
If, however, there is one thing that I know about Unicornland, it’s that Life is always, always rigged in my Favor. A happy outcome to all things, is sure.
Our being together again ... is no exception to that promise.
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