The Water Fairy

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I have a really wonderful sister.

A couple of days ago, I realized that I needed a few photos of a water fairy for the magazine. A fairy with wavy blonde hair, a white dress, and blue wings...

I've made my little sister dress up in all sorts of costumes and pause in the middle of many games in order to experiment with my camera. Most young girls would be completely tired of this-- but not 'Rosie.' She is a tireless, cute model and loves seeing where pictures of her wind up-- be it on my facebook page or at the library (the photo of her in a book page skirt won a contest there).

When I told her that I needed her to dress up as a fairy and wake up early some morning so that I could photograph her in the sunrise, she squealed and hugged me and called me the best sister ever.

Really, what do I do to deserve that?

While I was at a four-hour long chemistry lecture two days ago, she apparently asked Mom and Dad to put her hair in curlers. She woke up yesterday morning bright, chipper, and excited to see her hair curly. 

I wasn't so bright and chipper; I'm not a morning person and I certaintly wasn't prepared to get a photoshoot started a six in the morning. But I rushed around the house, forming two coat hangers, a pantyhose with runs in it, and some glittery paint into a pair of makeshift fairy wings. After a few minutes in the garage (and after making a messy pile of boxes) I found my old petticoat dress. Next came the rush to find some small water shoes. 

Rosie wasn't dressed until the sun had already risen, but the sky was adorned with brilliant clouds and the lighting wasn't stark and overwhelming. So we waltzed outside...

We have a beautiful little pond in our backyard, and thanks to the drought it is only a couple of feet deep. I wanted Rosie to wade into it and let me photograph her standing in it.

What I didn't know?

She's afraid of the touching the pond water. One of our brothers had told her that venomous snakes live there (we've never seen a snake!), and the single splash of one frog jumping into the water was enough to make her squeal. I thought she was just being silly, and said as much (what a mean sister I am!). She put on her brave face and took a few small steps towards the water...

Squish, squash, bluuuuuuurp. The ground was very, very muddy. She sunk a good three inches into the mud and made a strange gurgling sounds in the back of her throat. I could tell that she was thinking of those stories about people sinking in quicksand.

That wouldn't do; Rosie would not succumb to quicksand and become a snake's breakfast. She skadoodled back onto solid ground.

"I'm so sorry, Shaylynn! I just... ick... I was sinking!"

I suggested we go inside, but she felt bad that I didn't have the photos I needed and gave it another shot-- this time walking towards the water from her favorite fishing spot.

That didn't work out, either.

Rosie's nose and ears turned bright pink. She was almost in tears.

I asked her if the mud was too icky. She nodded, then shrugged sadly, and said, "But you're not going to get the pictures you need!"

It just about melted my heart.

Forget about all the times I complain about her annoying way of interrupting me or pestering me to do things or never ever cleaning her part of the room. She really is the sweetest little girl, ever.

I tried to convince her that it was okay. I shouldn't have expected her to walk in the mud-- even I wouldn't want to do that, after seeing how gooey it was! But it was to no avail.

We found some nice solid ground and took some more fairy pictures.

I didn't have the heart to tell her that these won't work for the magazine's short story. (Who knows? Maybe I can manage some fancy Photoshop and make it work?). She was just so worried about me!

She looked like a little angel!

Rosie still kept saying "sorry" between every couple of sentences and it took a fair amount of time to convince her that no, I did not need her to try walking in the scary water again.

My brave lil' sis!

When I opened up the pictures I was excited to see that they turned out quite well! They may not work for the short story, but they are pretty in an of themselves. Well, and because of Rosie, of course!

She was swordfighting and wrestling my brothers with her super-curly hair and brand-new fairy wings earlier, so I think it's all OK now. (Wish I had a picture of that!)

And this, my friends, is why you should always exclaim AWWWWWW anytime I post a picture with my little sister in it. She isn't just cute. She's super sweet.