Pretty as a Princess..um...er...(clear the throat)..I mean...a Punk

Last Saturday, Luke was invited to a birthday party for his friend Brinley. He was so excited and couldn't stop talking about going.


In hindsight, I realize that the catastrophe that was about to occur could possibly have been avoided, had I properly prepared and informed Luke about what he was about to see.

Did I mention this was a Princess party? I guess I didn't mention it to him either.

Poor Luke.

He sensed something was amiss when instead of pulling into Brinley's driveway we stopped in a parking lot of a mini mall. He was hesitant about stepping foot into "Enchanted Memories" something that looked every bit like a beauty parlor - not that the youngest of six boys has any idea what a beauty parlor is - but he knew instinctively that this was just WRONG! Really, really wrong and his brothers would NEVER approve.

Yes, he recognized the faces, sort of. But what on earth were they doing? Why did they look like that? Luke began to panic. We got about halfway into the place when Luke sized up a huge castle in the back half of the building. Now, boys like castles, right? Castles can be cool - especially when being attacked by marauding invaders, or better yet, fire-breathing dragons. But this was NOT that kind of castle. EVERYTHING was pink and sparkling - from the pink shag rug to the walls to the ceiling.

THIS was a PRINCESS castle - no doubt about that!

Luke took ONE LOOK at that castle and declared definitively "I'm leaving!"and in an instant had dropped the present, turned, and BOLTED full speed out the door!

He would NOT go in there. As much as I tried to convince Luke that those princesses really needed a handsome prince, and that there were other boys in there who were man enough to stay in a princess castle, every little bit of man inside of him was screaming this this was just not right!

What a cruel, cruel trick to spring a princess party on a real man like him! Unbearable humiliation!

(For the record, Luke was NOT the only little boy to run terrified and teary-eyed out of there that day. It really was that scary pink!)

I finally drug Luke back inside where I introduced him to the video games. He declared that he didn't want to play princess games, but I convinced him that Mario Bros. is hardly a princess game, so, with the promise of birthday cake he eventually gave in and decided to stay a while. What bravery!

While the girls got curly, glittery locks and princess crowns, the boys got some "manly" whacked out colorful styles. Luke was still to wary, even when all the "cool" kids were doing it.

Luke finally gave in to a faux-hawk - but NO COLOR! And NO Face paint.

When Luke realized his manhood was not to be stripped from him, he started to enjoy himself.



He hung out with the cool kids...

and kept an eye on the pretty princesses...

and avoided getting hit by the spinning princesses...

He was even invited to tea with the queen - all the while managing to keep his manhood in tact.

Happy Birthday Princess Brinley!

And congratulations Prince Luke for being man enough to face your dragon (albeit a very pink dragon) head on! The very picture of bravery (with cool man-hair too!)