A Peachy Mother's Day

Hey Guys!

   Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day last week! Moms really are the best aren't they? I mean, none of us would even be here without them right? Of course I'm an exception, but I'll get to that in a second. Obviously we in The Mushroom Kingdom celebrate Mother's Day too, and everyone had their own plans and ways to celebrate. For me though, this holiday, along with Father's Day, were two that I used to feel awkward and out of place. This is because,well, I don't have parents. Like, at all. Unless you count the Shine Sprite that Aurora's soul collided into to make me that is, but that's just weird. The point is, after I was reborn, I had no real family to be with, and the Piantas who first found me became more like my caretakers than relatives. Don't get me wrong, I love and appreciate my nursemaid Nana, to death even, but I only ever saw her as my nanny as a kid. PomPom was always there too, but mainly acted as a playmate and my best friend.

   Now the first real time I felt a real maternal connection with an adult was, unsurprisingly, Princess Peach. I had first met her right around the same time I met Mario, during the Goop Incident on Isle Delfino. Peach had discovered me right away when I was spying on them behind a wall corner in Delfino Plaza. We made eye contact for a little while, but she calmly walked up to me and said a gentle hello. She went on to tell me that staring at people without them knowing wasn't very polite, but she said it so sweetly that I felt my face blush. I remember that in my panic I made up an excuse and blurted out that "I-It's because you're pretty." Peach only laughed and thanked me, and was very patient with my shyness. This was all before Peach was kidnapped, but after she was she had left enough of an impression on me to do whatever I could to help rescue her, which eventually led me to meeting Mario. After the raid at the Palace and he had taken me to The Mushroom Kingdom, Peach had heard what happened and arrived at the house as soon as she could. Right at the start, Peach insisted that she wanted to be involved in my upbringing, and if it weren't for her I wouldn't have grown up into the graceful and kind lady I am now. There was even one time I remember as a kid that I really enjoy, and it involved my first weekend alone with Peach.

   I had been living in The Mushroom Kingdom for almost a year. At some point Mario and Luigi had to go out of town for a weekend for some kind of event. They knew that I would be bored at the event, so they needed someone to watch me and PomPom for the weekend. My usual babysitter Princess Daisy was in Sarasaland at the time, so she wasn't available to help out. At first the Bros. didn't know who else to ask, but Mario quickly realized that Peach was actually free that weekend, and decided to call her to see if she wanted to help. Of course Peach was all for it, and was super excited to have over at the castle. So all the arrangements were made and the Friday before they left, Mario and Luigi took me and PomPom over to the castle to drop me off with Peach. I was genuinely excited to see the castle too, but to be honest I was a little anxious too. At the time I was still pretty clingy to Mario after all that had happened. He did eventually convince me that everything would be fine, and it somehow worked to calm my nerves. After the Bros. left and Peach helped me set up my stuff in her room, we got started on all sorts of activities. At first, we did more mellow stuff like letting me and PomPom look around the garden or color pictures, but every time I finished I'd start to miss Mario and Luigi again and feel down. Peach caught on to this quickly and came up with an idea to keep my mind occupied: we were going to try and bake together.

   So Peach took PomPom and I to the kitchen and picked out from her recipe book what we wanted to make. Even though she's commonly known for baking cakes, Peach is actually a very skilled baker in all sorts of treats, from cookies, to cupcakes, even ice cream during the Summer. After browsing the book, I see a relatively simple recipe for strawberry macaroons. I say simple, but macaroons are supposedly notorious for being difficult to bake, especially for amateurs, something Peach obviously wasn't. So we got started on the recipe and PomPom and I helped get some of the ingredients out while Peach got the bowls and mixer. Since the macaroons were tricky to bake, all I really did was watch Peach work her magic. Occasionally though, she would let me to help add smaller ingredients into mixes or even let me taste the meringue. After some time passed she started piping the macaroon shells and let them rest before putting them in the oven. While we waited, I asked Peach why she baked so much, especially for Mario after he saves her. Peach gave it a second and simply answered saying that it was her way to express her gratitude, and show that she cares about her friends. This was definitely the moment when I started to admire Peach, and wanted to be a princess like her.

   For the rest of the afternoon, we finished baking the macaroons and had fun trying them out, and as the day went on I started to relax and had more fun with Peach. Throughout the rest of the weekend we did all sorts of fun girly stuff like play dress up(even though none of Peach's stuff fit on me!), read some picture books from the library, explored the castle down to tiniest cranny, and she even used her makeup on me for fun and took a picture to show Mario and Luigi when they got back. PomPom and I had an absolute blast staying with Peach, and that weekend really felt like the first time I bonded with her like a maternal figure than just a friend. Of course, all weekends come to an end and the Bros. were home from their event, and Mario came to the castle to pick me up that night. By the time he got there PomPom and I were falling asleep on a sofa trying to wait for him. Before Mario took us home, he and Peach talked about all that we did and she absolutely loved having me, and was always welcome to babysit me again. Mario was relieved that everything went well and he finally took me and PomPom home still half asleep.

   So, that's my memory of the mom in my life, Princess Peach. You guys all know how kind and charismatic she is, so I don't need to explain that. Now I've talked about all three of my tight circle of a pseudo family at least once. With that, I'll sign off, and if Peach finds this, I've got this to say: "I LOVE YOU PEACHY!<3" Blog ya soon guys, always remember to love your parents!

- Dana ;)

A picture that my blog editor helped me make!
Hope you guys like it!