Rainbow Unicorn Bumper Sticker

My new bumper sticker arrived today! It’s a unicorn prancing in front of a rainbow. Part of my brain said, “You can’t put that on your car. Everyone will think a twelve-year-old is driving.”

Then I thought, “Who cares what other people think? If I like it, that’s all that matters.”

Then I had a whole conversation with the stern and somber judge in my brain that doesn’t like people to have fun. Don’t worry—she’s very small and plain and I rarely listen to her. Let’s call her Dot.

It went something like this.

“You can’t put that ridiculous sticker on your car.”

“Why not?”

“A. People will think you are crazy. B. No one will ever take you seriously.

Why would I care what people think of me? What’s wrong with liking rainbows and unicorns?

You are 50.

51.

You are 51. When are you going to start acting like a grown-up?

I ask myself that ten times a day, only I say, “What am I going to start FEELING like a grown-up?

The conversation ended with Judge Dot saying, “Will you EVER act like an adult?”

And I replied, ‘Oh Judge Dot, at this point, I don’t think so.

I have definitely sailed to the island of grown-ups and looked around. I ran through their forests of serious trees I was told not to climb, slogged through the swamps of pain, picked up their whispering rocks that told me to worry worry worry! I whispered back, “No thank you!” And I threw the rocks far away from me.

Then I climbed back in my boat and sailed away for more magical waters, where I currently sail. Here, I am encouraged to climb the trees and to swing on them and sit on their branches all day long. Here, when I pick up a rock, it whispers, “Yes!”

What does this mean?

This means I will wear tutus and sparkle boots, I will pour glitter over my head when I feel like it, even if it’s impossible to sweep up and it’s still sticking to me a year later. I will put on my pink roller skates and skate around my neighborhood blowing bubbles while wearing flowers in my hair. I will go outside at midnight on a school night just to look at the moon and maybe dance under the stars.

And I sure as heck will put a rainbow unicorn bumper sticker on my car.