My children and I walk up the beautiful wooden staircase to the hidden second-floor cafe–well known around town as the place to bring a secret date for a discreet cup of tea, up off the street and away from random friends and acquaintances walking down Main Street. However, instead of clandestine New Agers quietly musing about their spirituality, we find ourselves awash in pink tulle and silver sparkles. It is the periodic Fairy Tea at Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room.
With the sunlight gently streaming in through the large windows, twelve tables are covered in soft pink and purple ruffled tablecloths and decorated with lace doilies. On each table is a plate of petits fours and cookies. A special fairy tea menu is presented with a wonderful selection of herbal blends served in delightful little china tea-pots (as well as green and black teas, coffee, and hot chocolate with mounds of whipped cream).
Once we find our table and order our tea, we look up to realize that we are surrounded by fairies of all colors, shapes, sizes, types, and ages. To one side of us is an obvious grandma-mommy-daughter fairy family, with matching blue headbands, bobbing antennae, and sparkly dangling earrings. To the other side is a royal fairy family with a queen mother, a queen and several princess fairies all wearing rhinestone tiaras, beautiful satin gowns, gauzy pink wings, and long white gloves.
There must be fifty to sixty fairies gathered here today. Some wear lacy tutus, others wear long sequined gowns, and some wear fur-trimmed velvet dresses. Their sheer pink and silver wings flutter with excitement and emotion. Graceful Crazy Wisdom fairies flit from table to table on psychedelic blue wings, graciously refilling teapots and offering more cookies.
Then it is story time. One of the Crazy Wisdom fairies gathers all the little boy and girl fairies around her and reads marvelous tales of fairies–about the Sock Fairy (who steals one sock of each pair), the Belly Button Fairy, the Fairy who out-tricked trickster Coyote, and Goodnight Fairies. Although I have read my children stories about fairies before, there is nothing like hearing it directly from a real fairy.
As we leave, the Crazy Wisdom fairies give each young child a small gift and a sprinkle of magic fairy dust, sparkles cascading down over their faces and hands, which sends the children flying off to find the tiny fairy door hidden at the back of the store.
Crazy Wisdom hosts a special Mother’s Day Tea with the Fairies on Sunday, May 9.
