Irinna was a young, very talented witch - and also my daughter! She was a natural storyteller, magic scholar and fantasy lover. She was known by her detailed journals, her stories and her great affinity to dragons! At the age of 14, she crossed the bridge and hopefully moved to one of her own worlds. I am sure that she is now riding her dragon, casting her spells to all who deserve her wrath and helping everyone who needs help! This dragon, was the cover of one of her journals. I am sure that she appreciates, having her own Dragon Line, made by her Mom.
Impressive dragons! Are they not?
Irinna was a child who lived with one foot in the real world and one foot at some fantastic realm. Since she was very very young, she was making her own stories. She was reading a story - or made us read it to her, before her reading years- and then she was expanding the plot, adding new characters, turning things around…. until the story was as real as life! She used to walk in circles, seemingly doing nothing, but when interrupted by her anxious parents (us), she was getting irritated because “she was telling a story”.
These stories lived in her head and evolved with her, as the years passed. At the beginning, the heroes were her 5 favorite stuffies: two dogs, a rabbit, a frog and a tiger. These five “friends”, as she was calling them, were exploring this life, other lives, the universe, some parallel cosmos etc., at the speed of light. They were the main heroes of her every plot, they had their own characters- no matter if they were dragon slayers or war immigrants, pirates or adventurers on their way to save the world.
After some years, I was becoming a very anxious mother, thinking that my child possibly needs an expert to help her get rid of this habbit of telling stories to herself. At the age of 8, she mastered the art of storytelling, and because of the numerous books she had read, she handled the language with the ease of a much older person. But she was still not at the point of writing anything down.
Until I made a dragon journal for my ETSY shop. I listed the journal, but she was asking for it daily. She was wishing that no one would buy it, because she claimed that it was her dragon. In a couple of months, I told her that if in 6 months (at her birthday), she still wished to have it as a sole present (tough mother!), I would give the journal to her.
And guess what! She got her journal and although afterwards she became a journal collector, this was her favorite journal, where she created her own world, complete with new races, languages, maps etc. etc.
She used to sneak at my studio, checking out the new journals I was preparing. She wanted to have each and every spell book I made. I gave her some, I sold others …. The year she passed, she was asking for a very large journal, and I was saying “for heaven's sake girl, we got you a laptop” - (Yes! mothers are never content. Ever!).
She never had the time to use either of them. We ditched the laptop, but this journal will stay with me, and who knows? I may use it myself one day. For the time being I have all her journals to read, and I am making her own dragon collection, because this is something that my kid would LOVE!