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My mother is one of the most insightful and soulful human beings that I know. Her generosity knows no bounds. She is good. She is practical. She is deep. Her family is at the center of her heart and every single day she does something to make each one of our lives better. It is for all of these reasons that when I called her two days before Mother’s Day – panic, self doubt and near hysteria in my voice—that her words lead me to reflect on what was most important in my life.

I was beside myself that I was not going to make the Mother’s Day deadline for the initial launch of Darling’s Pixie Dust.  I agonized over the fact that if I wanted to meet my original goal, I would have to forgo the camping trip Mr. Darling had excitedly planned for weeks. After ranting and raving for a few minutes, my mother gave me a double shoulder shake over the phone and in her typical fashion – no muss, no fuss—she said: Listen to me! You will never get this time back with your daughter. Your husband wants you there. Drop this and go be with your family. This can wait. 

My mother was right.

Life Happens. It doesn’t wait for you to recover. It doesn’t stand still while you figure everything out. It goes on. Plans fall to pieces, people get sick and children grow faster than you can count to three. It’s unnerving and scary and it moves too fast. Yet, it’s the most beautiful, joyous, precious, ever-fading gift. If you don’t scoop up the moments that make life worth living, you look back and say: What was so worth it that I missed this?

I made it to the campsite at eight in the evening. The tent was up, the fire was crackling, and Mr. Darling’s famous campfire pizza was just being placed over the flames. My daughter ran into my arms and as I kissed my husband hello I knew I had made the right choice.

Later that night it would begin to storm. Mr. Darling would construct an open shelter over the fire with the help of our campmates and our little girl would fall asleep in my arms by the warmth of the flames. As I looked at her face, I knew that I would remember this forever.  I thought that when she grew up, I could still hold on to this: The memory of an incredible night under a tarp…in the rain…on a camping trip.

After all, what else is there? What else to we have to cling to when everything else fades—including the most important people in one’s life? It is the memories made by living—even in the simplest moments in time—that we can hold forever.

If there is one phrase that has been used at least a million times in my life it is: Thanks to my Mother.  Again, thanks to my Mother, I was able to refocus my perspective and remember not only what is important in life, but also why I wanted to start this blog in the first place. —We live in a very busy world where it’s easy to lose that personal touch—where we can select what we show of our lives. We can edit our pictures, shape our stories and give the impression that life is perpetually dandy. Well, it just isn’t. Deadlines are missed, we make the wrong choice and we try each day to make it to the end with our dignity intact. Yet, I do believe that we can get by with a certain sense of grace in our step, a chic touch to our look and still maintain the ability to acknowledge that raising a family in today’s society is thrilling but GOOD LORD, is it trying! 

It is with love that I dedicate this first official post to my Mother. Here is to perspective, perseverance and flight.

Always,

Darling

Welcome To Darling's Pixie Dust

Sunday Brunch At The Darling Home

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Darling’s Pixie Dust is a contemporary confluence for the chic parent and child, where style and grace walk hand in hand with the ups and downs of real life with children. The Darlings are no strangers to the less than lovely side of raising a family in modern society and it is the - at times - intangible magic that brings it all together.  Families today, tomorrow and all the days ever after could not survive without faith, love and that certain je ne sais quoi we call Pixie Dust.