Glitter. It’s a powerful song performed by P!nk and the title of an unfavorable movie starring Mariah Carey. It’s also the subject for today’s post. But this is about the kind of glitter that is used with a bottle of Elmer’s glue and colored construction paper.
The other day I was in the craft store. I’m lucky that it’s only about 2 miles from my house—the perfect distance for an artist who often runs out of Golden Acrylics Titan Buff paint on a regular basis.
While in the store, I had overheard a conversation. I guess it wasn’t really a conversation…more of a command from a mom to her daughter.
“Nope. No glitter. We will never have glitter in our house. I’ve always said that and that’s the way it will always be.”
Yikes.
She was definite and serious. Her voice firm. Harsh even. Her daughter said nothing, and I never even heard her ask the question about wanting the sparkly stuff. But there was no arguing with this mom. No debating. The daughter stayed silent. Mom had made it clear.
NO GLITTER IN THE HOUSE.
It made me pause enough to take note and think to myself. “No glitter? Who would deny a little kid the simple joy of glitter?”
I’m sure that mom has her reasons. If you’ve ever opened a birthday card or invitation and bunch of glitter fell out, it will stick to everything in it’s path: your fingers when you touch it and the crevices of the dining room table. It will find it’s way into the deepest places in the carpet and refuse to be vacuumed up. And who knows? Maybe there was that time she had to hit the emergency room because her toddler had gotten glitter particles in their eye. Or maybe when she was in kindergarten, the teacher scolded her because she used glitter on her flowers instead of the pink and purple paint everyone else was using.
But somehow…I doubt it. Somehow I assume this is probably more about the permanence of glitter that will make its way into the fibers of the perfectly pristine, white, shag rug she ordered from Wayfair.
And I get it. Glitter shows up years later in the house when the art project has long been forgotten.
But part of of me wanted to stop that little girl, invite her over to my house and tell her she could buy all the glitter that the wanted. Every color! Every kind! Big, chunky glitter. Teeny, tiny glitter. The kind that will indeed find its way onto every surface of the house.
I mean, what else can a little kid use to make the horn of a unicorn they just colored glimmer? What else will make the bow on the puppy they just drew brilliantly catch the light? Or make gold tinsel shine on a Christmas tree picture? Or ornaments on that same Christmas tree…sparkle?
There’s only one thing.
Even Martha Stewart dunks artisanal pumpkins covered in glue into giant bowls of it.
I wanted to tell that mom that one day not too far off from this one, her daughter will have no interest in glitter at all. The kind she will be interested in will be more like the kind she can put on her eyes or cheeks that she will talk about on her teen beauty vlog on YouTube.
I wanted to tell her that someday she will have an empty house because her daughter moved across the country to marry the love of her life, or do mission work overseas. She will be off having her own adventures as well her own adult problems. I wanted to tell her that one day she will long for the sweet innocence of an afternoon with her daughter sitting at a dining room table filled random craft supplies. A day spent coloring safari animals or stenciling letters on to a giant board for the science fair.
Because if you’re a parent of a teen or of one who has left the nest, you know that those days are fleeting.
And yes, the time of raising young children can be a stressful one. At the time these school and art projects can make a huge mess, and can be a pain, and we can curse the mess and the time and the effort. I know. I’ve been there. Particularly when the picture they so carefully constructed in first grade has long been since forgotten or discarded by the time they have moved out of the house.
Even if the child forgets—these little projects, these moments in time—create fond memories. The giant mess included.
Fuzzy memories captured by maybe a few photos.
Everyone who went before me was right, the time sure went fast.
I guess my point is, the world needs more sparkle, more fun, more lightheartedness…more glitter. And fewer perfectly white, pristine, shag carpets.
So random mom in the craft store, please buy your daughter a little jar of glitter. Let her pick the color. Have her put it on the unicorn she drew to make it shimmer, let it fall into the cracks of your hardwood floors where you will find it years later. Make a mess.
Get the kind that will stick to everything, your heart included.