When I was little, my cousins and I did not play Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers, or any of the “normal” group games. We cast ourselves instead in the roles of magical creatures. Fairies, elves, dwarves, gnomes, trolls, dragons… the list goes on and on.

I remember one day my cousin Missy and I were starting one of those adventures. Missy decided, however, that to be acurately cast in a role, we had to fit the roll. So, when I proclaimed myself to be an elf–as always–she protested.

“You can’t be an elf!” she stated. “Elves are tall and skinny. You’re short!”

“Yeah, well you don’t look like a dragon, either!” is what I should have responded with. But back then I just took what she said as fact. She was my older cousin, after all.

Instead, I asked her what I could be. So we ran through the types. Elves are tall and thin; I wasn’t tall. Dwarves are short and stocky; I wasn’t stocky. Gnomes are short and thin but ugly so, while I fit the short and thin, I counted myself out. And so on.

“So, WHAT am I?!” I finally asked, in exasperation and desperation.

“I guess you’re just stuck being a human” she replied. And I cried. I didn’t want to be a human! I wanted to be a magical creature because those are so much cooler!

Nowadays, I still think back and think it’d be cool to be some sort of magical creature. But I still don’t fit any of the roles. I’m stuck with what I am: a human. And while I may not have magical abilities or super speed and agility or wings, I guess I’ve learned/accepted that being human isn’t that bad*.

However, I can’t wait until I have kids and can have these adventures with them! I’ll be the mommy so they won’t be able to tell me that I can’t be what I want to be!

*You could also say that I’ve just grown up and accepted my plight.