Do you believe in Faeries (A story behind a picture)

When my youngest daughter was born, she was a tiny little thing.

I would hold her at night waiting for her to go to sleep, I would listen to her breathe  and gently tell her how much I loved her.

As she got older we would walk to the shops together, she would talk about all sorts of imaginings and I would listen.

Each walk would take us past a beautiful garden an elderly couple had been tending for years. This garden had all kinds of flowers and plants, with a small pond with Lilly s at its centre.

During summer there would be Dragonflies and Damsel's dashing around. I would tell about the faerie's that lived in the garden and how they had houses in the flower heads.

I would tell her how hard it was for old people to see them, because they move so quick and how she just missed one, because she was looking the other way.

As the years went by, the flash of  a damsel wing or that of a dragonfly would keep her looking and we would stand there together, in a world made of our imagination and the rest of the real world would pass us by.

As more time passed and nursery had come and gone. It was now time at five years old to start school.

I paid no attention to the thought that others would not see the things that we had seen standing by the garden, nor had she.

And so, more years passed and trying to see the faeries in the garden became harder for her.

Then, one day at school, a discussion came up about believing in things and my daughter said about faeries. Some believed others didn't. Some believed Santa existed, others didn't.

However, she came home that day and as we walked to the shops pass that garden, came a statement not really a question.

Dad, faeries don't really exist do they. I could only answer NO,

I wont ask about Santa then,

Best not I replied.

This story isn't about faeries or telling your children untruths or Fairy tales.

This is about some of the most magical moments that I have shared, with someone I watched grow into a beautiful young human being. 

Also about times that as a parent, can never be lived again.

Do you believe in faeries