The Princess in our Midst

Here is Princess Caroline with her wings and tiara and tutu and anything else she can think of. She has been visiting this week. This is my youngest grandchild of six, the only girl, and boy is she ever the girliest girl! We all sign on to this persona. But I wonder. What's a princess? Is it someone who is not capable and needs to be waited upon? Does a princess just sit and wave her sceptor and expect attention? Does a princess ever do anything? And do we even ask?

Thinking back of my own daughter, our baby woman, I remember how great it was to have a girl in the family after two brothers. I sewed great dresses for her and her dolls. But mostly she wore overalls and sturdy shoes (when she wasn't going barefoot). There was the time of the "rubber dress", a hand-me-down from an older friend. This thing was black and stiff, made entirely out of some ersatz polymer and had a lace collar and could stand on its own. She loved it and wore it every day for weeks. Like cement blocks, we never had to clean it. Then, that was over and she went back to more comfortable jeans.

Just thinking about this visit from the Princess, her older brother and her parents. We all fall into this play acting, and it is fun for sure. But this princess can catch frogs and crickets and look at a map and find Africa. And she can sure push her brother's buttons. What fun it has been for me, the grandma!

Another topic: we are moving! Our town house was put on the market last week and we have a buyer. So sudden, lots of cardboard boxes. I never thought this would happen so fast. Now we are looking for another place in St. Pete, a compound with our daughter and her son. The ideal thing is to buy a main house with a guest house on the property. Our daughter's house goes on the market next week. So we are all trying to get everything to work out for all our needs. (I thought I was through with all this!) But Grandma Molly is still here at the ranch, very happy with the scene of so much wild life and the gardens, and art in the studio, and the connection to this area.

I dream of being a princess, where all we will be done for me..