We found out last summer we have a family of fairies living in our garden. The mom is Summer, dad is River; Forest is the brother and Dawn is the sister.

Fairies are not a lot of work, it turns out. They’re pretty resourceful and mostly take care of themselves. However, they do like it when we leave them raspberries, blueberries, honeysuckle, notes and clothes. (Little wisps of clothing we make out of Barbie doll clothes, lace and nylon scraps.) Sometimes they go on vacation for awhile — to the mountains, or the ocean — and we don’t hear from them. They’re whimsical that way. In the fall they split and go someplace warm. Cabo San Lucas, or maybe Fiji, who knows. Then they popped up again, once school was out. They have a castle and a dragon we bought at the pet store, in the aquarium section, a birdhouse that we leave notes in (the lid lifts off) and two sunflowers. They only come out at night. They like to swim in the river and play at the park. They love our yard.

My friend Annie, someone I knew from college, was raised by awesome hippie parents who let her think she was a fairy until she was four years old. Then she figured out she wasn’t and turned into a girl. It gave her a good outlook on life, starting out as a fairy — she was pretty cheerful and kind of floated along. Like a fairy.

Here is a list of FAQ about fairies (Wacky Girl will handle this part):

1) Do you have ages? No, we do not.

2) Where do you sleep? In the trees, on the leaves.

3) Do you go to school? Yes, all the time. We learn music, dance and read.

4) Also, we asked them: Do Dawn and Summer wear dresses? Yes, mostly purple and pink ones that are floaty.

5) Do you have wands? Yes.

6) Did you bend back my my brother’s trike seat? (This one has been a huge mystery around here.) and did you find the missing pieces to the Garfield puzzle? Yes, we did.

7) Do people see you? We are too small.

WG will be 7 soon. I am baffled by this, as just a few weeks ago (it feels like) I was nine months pregnant, during a hot August summer, eating popsicles out on our patio and hanging up 800 little bitty baby outfits. Her grandpa cried the first time he met her, which really, honestly? Made me feel like the hugest success as a daughter-in-law ever ever ever. She was wearing a tiny white puffy cotton romper that had pink rosebuds on it and a sweet little twee matching bonnet. So how can she be 7?

She has her party already planned. In the garden, of course, with a fairy theme. We’re ordering a truckload of stuff with a Flower Fairy Tea Party Theme from Birthday Express because, you know, she’s 7. And we love fairies.