**Once upon a time, there was the tiniest of tiny fairies. To the human eye, she was a mere speck of dust. She floated about the world, traveling from place to place. She had many adventures and enjoyed the animals. It goes without saying that there were times of sadness, some bumps, falls, and times of feeling stuck. Sometimes the loneliness hung around like a thin veil over her eyes, but she always found herself happiest when lost in thought and dreams. One day while floating along, she saw something shiny – a thin strand of silver, full of life and sparkles, but a simple gray hair to most. She floated to it and instantly found herself flying. The world started to twist and turn in ways she hadn't imagined—the flowers she used to sleep on opened into never-ending pathways of glitter. The light was golden, but the sky was bright, and the trees were emerald. In the evening, it opened into thousands of magical stars, all seemingly in conversation with one another.

The world of magic she dreamt of was real and a new lightness came over her.

One evening while watching the sun say goodnight to the moon, she noticed the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It felt like she had been struck by lightning and disassembled into a million pieces of air. The feeling was weightless yet grounding, as if she was a tree with deep roots. As she got closer, she noticed that it was another fairy. He had the kindest eyes and warmest smile she had ever seen.

"Hello!" she exclaimed – she was sure she whispered, but apparently was shouting with excitement.

The hello's turned into more hello's and rarely turned into goodbyes. The connection was effortless, and they continued to drift along, exploring the magical world together. They enjoyed the joyous laughter of a tall boy with dark curls when walking by a store called, Dilruba, so much that they decided to name their own world after it....this is a little map of part of their world.

Happiest of happy birthdays to the man that made me realize magic was real.