Sarah and I spent the whole day together, just the two of us. We had been planning to go to the Renaissance Festival for some time. When I woke up, Sarah was already dressed and ready to go, simply waiting for me to get up. She asked me for what must have been the tenth time if I had purchased the tickets. I ran a load of dishes in the dishwasher, got dressed, and we left.

We had breakfast at Burger King on the way. When we arrived, the faire had only been open for about 15 or 20 minutes. We were busy all day. We didn’t really eat a whole lot — there was much to do and see. Sarah seemed to want to try everything, and I let her. She made a candle. She tried this bungee thing. She slid down this huge slide. She dragged me into a maze. We watched a hilarious parody of Macbeth, which she loved. She got her hair braided. She said that was her favorite part. We watched a joust, comedy swordfighting by Hack and Slash, and the Lost Boys — the renaissance rock and roll band. I bought some herbs for homemade first aid ointments I plan to try to make. I bought some earrings. I really couldn’t even go look at the hair sticks, because I love them — but I plan to cut my hair too short to be able to wear them. I didn’t want to be tempted. We had tea and scones.

It threatened to rain in the morning and early afternoon — it sprinkled a little. The cloud cover actually helped keep things cool. It didn’t get hot until late afternoon.

We capped off the evening with a mother-daughter only dinner at The Melting Pot. Cheese fondue, salad, and chocolate fondue. Sarah loved it. Not only was it fun, but it also tasted great.

She said it was the perfect day.

Sometimes I feel like I don’t give her a whole lot as a mother. We live paycheck to paycheck. This visit to the Ren Fest was brought to us by Uncle Sam’s tax return savings for dummies program. Her brother and sister demand a lot of my time because they are so little. She very rarely has me all to herself. That sort of fun is usually the kind of thing she associates with being with her father. I have the feeling she’ll remember today for a long time, if not always, and I am so happy I was able to give it to her.