It's the end of October, and two of my children are wearing costumes from stories that were first told years before they were born (Dorothy/Wizard of Oz & Childlike Empress/The Neverending Story). I don't know why it works so well - but it really makes those stories new for me too. Or at least it dusts them off and makes them seem fresh. I think it's their perspective. When they ask about the Munchkins, it really works to make that story new. I can't answer most of their questions because none of them are answered in the story. Who the hell knows anything about those people and their little land. They are a completely unexplained phenomenon. The Munchkins are a land of scenery come to life. Every little aspect of them and their world is startling and unexplained and, well - basically alien. The Munchkins are alien. I guess this explains why stories with aliens are so intriguing. The more unanswered questions, the better.
Unanswered questions fill the world of children. Somehow this makes it a magical place to be, and I love joining my kids there. Sometimes it seems like many of the things they ask are existential and perhaps unanswerable. I love that this can be comforting to me, when it could go the other way for adults. If adults can't answer a question, we're stuck. We need to know stuff. But we just can't know everything. There's a ton of stuff that we will never know. I want to feel comfortable with that. I don't know, I won't know, let it go...
Oh, my other child is wearing a superhero costume he/we made up. He's got a blue t-shirt, red tights with Thomas The Train underwear pulled up over the outside, and a blue magician's cape with yellow moons and stars. On the t-shirt in big white letters is his name: GUY BOY!
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