Fairy Faith

When I moved into this townhouse in Pleasant Grove, the first thing I noted was how bare the little yard was. It is simple with a white plastic fence, half concrete for a patio table, and half grass. I wondered where on earth all my fairies would hang out. You see, the place we lived before had nice thick and heavy foliage; bushes, trees, and my favorite feature- a vegetable garden.

I had grown more things out of that little square garden than my neighbors could fathom. They would peer over the fence in awe and jealousy at my vines of cucumbers and squash, my bushes of spinach and Brussels. My towers of tomatoes and peas, the list goes on and on. Every year they were astounded at how much produce I was able to harvest- little did they know that my relationship to nature had been cultivated from the time I was a little girl talking to trees and laughing with insects. It is always pure enjoyment to laugh with the fae at anyone who just can’t figure out my gardening magic.

I assumed my nature spirits would follow me to this new place, but instantly felt guilty for wanting them to once I realized how dull and small their new yard would be. My cats weren’t too impressed either. They were used to being able to roam the neighborhood and nearby orchards. This place was inside of a city of fences, cars, and danger so I decided not to let my cats out. This didn’t go over so well, and they complained for 3 weeks straight. I have told myself that this place is only temporary and that we can all just make due until I can find us a better home. It was an unsettled feeling at first, I wondered how we would all do in such a mundane place. But that’s when the magic happened.

If you don’t believe in fairies, I truly hope that this story will convince you. Because there’s nothing more exciting than just letting yourself believe… even if it’s for a few minutes.

One morning as I was enjoying the sun in my little boxed in back yard, I happened to notice a lot of weeds had begun to spring up throughout the grass and along the fence. I made a mental note to pull them when I had time- an agreement I had made with the landlord. However, time got away from me and a few days after that, I realized that the weeds looked quite peculiar. They were twisty like vines. I wondered what kind of weed it was- but only for a moment before my thoughts took me away from it and more time went on. A few days after that, I could see that the weeds were intertwining along the edge of the fence, like they were all joined together by one root. Mind you, by now the weeds had spread along more than half the length of the fence. I looked along the fence line and found one place where they all seemed to be coming from. Sure enough, it was some strange vine that was coming out from under our fence. I jumped up onto a chair to look for what must be on the other side crawling through. But to my amazement, all I saw was rocks and gravel. No green stuff anywhere. So, I decided to give it a few more days before pulling it.

About a week went by before I was able to go out and really inspect the vine. By now it had grown into my patio and was taking over one of the chairs. It began to sprout yellow blossoms and the leaves looked like some sort of vegetable plant. It was then I realized this was no weed. As big as it was becoming, I knew it had to be taking over the other side of the fence so I looked over to the other side only to see the same barren scene I had seen before. I took a walk around the complex and peered over fence after fence. No one grew anything special, there were no vines anywhere like this one.

Within another week, the blossoms turned into huge yellow flowers that eventually formed into little gourd looking things. As soon as I realized what was happening I began to cry and my heart understood. My fairies had come with me after all, and they were making my yard just as magical as my last one! This was pumpkin vine! Out of nowhere! And just in time for Halloween! I let the vines take over the entire patio. We had little green pumpkins suspended in mid air hanging from under the table and chairs. The whole scene was a complete and utter mystery to everyone who saw it. My landlord confirmed that pumpkins had never grown there before. I too was dumbfounded- of all things I had grown over the years, pumpkins were never anything I had thought about planting. And yet there I was, like Cinderella waiting for her stagecoach to grow, I watched magic happen right before my eyes.  

Imagine had I pulled up those “weeds,” I would have missed the whole thing! My fairies knew I needed a magical pumpkin vine. I needed to know they were here with me, and making the best of it like we all are. That vine changed my entire attitude towards living here and it brought my faith back to life.

You might be asking yourself why things like that don’t happen for you. The fairies say that things like that happen all the time! We just don’t see it. We pull the weeds out before we know what’s happening- we discard the magic before it reveals itself. I highly suggest to just believe. It doesn’t hurt anything. Because when you believe, you’ll let things grow. You’ll know there’s a possibility of magic happening at any time and so you’ll look for it and you allow it to happen. If I can wake up to a pumpkin patch in the middle of the city, crawling out from nowhere- imagine what they could do for you! We all deserve a little magic!