(Christine)
Mom has been a bit nocturnal the last few days. The nights have been painful and sleepless. She is napping with low energy through these cloudy days. I know vampires are very trendy lately, however we hope to reverse this trend by tomorrow.
Earlier this year, Mom began writing her memoires and various short stories. We have been sorting through them and she wanted to share one last costume story. Enjoy!
The Parrot (Costume) Flew the Coop
Michael was a new student in fifth grade at Mill Street School. That spring, the fifth grade classes were putting on a school musical. I don’t remember the title of the play but Michael was playing a parrot and each mother was responsible for their child’s costume.
My sewing machine served me well and I really went over the top by creating a colorful costume for him made of giant sheets of crepe paper. The headpiece was a wonder and his tri-colored wings were hand-feathered by pulling the edges of the crepe paper. This is probably a lost art today but many a baby boomer mother will remember the process.
The day of the dress rehearsal arrived, and I drove him to school with his costume carefully pinned to a hanger and covered with a clear plastic cleaning bag. It was a breezy spring day and I was taking no chances that his costume wouldn’t arrive in the classroom in one piece. As he happily skipped into the school that morning, I drove off to work with a sigh of relief that the project was finished and he loved his costume.
Flash-forward, as I arrived home from work later that afternoon and glanced out the kitchen window only to behold Michael out back on the trampoline. As he jumped up and down I quickly noticed that he was draped in some pieces of bright red, green and yellow; so parrot-like, WHAT THE HELL?
I tore out the back door and asked why in the heck had he brought his costume home. And why was he wearing what was left of it on the trampoline ride during 30 mph winds? He told me that the teacher told him to take it home.
Back to the house, phone call to the school, talked to the teacher. She had no idea he had worn it home and was blissfully doing a wild parrot imitation and enjoying the winds that made him feel so parrot-like.
Back to the store for more crepe paper and back to the sewing machine. Another late night spent reconstructing, sewing and patching together the old costume with new improvements. That night at the play we proudly watched our son (the parrot) perform in front of the whole school. Before refreshments were served in the gym, the costume was once again in shreds along with my career as costume designer extraordinaire!