Beech Tree News Network

Back in 2005 when Nikki was attending Texas A&M in Galveston, she bought Garey a cowboy hat for his birthday.  The hat is an authentic hand cut and shaped Western version from The Hat Store in Houston, Texas.  I will never forget the evening I met Garey at the Hobby airport in the arrivals lane and watched as he crossed the crosswalk in his cowboy hat, jeans, plaid shirt and boots to my car.  The traffic cop who was directing vehicles in and out of the parking spots turned toward Garey and said very loudly, “A real cowboy! That’s what I’m talkin’ about!”  Garey and I still laugh about that to this day.

On Saturday, Natalie texted that she was taking Sabria to Hot Topic to get her a “My Hero Academia” tee shirt.  She added that she was going to let her Cosplay as Circus Baby.  Yeah, I had no idea what she meant by “Cosplay” either.  I knew “My Hero Academia” is Japanese Manga (think weird Oriental cartoons) because I overheard Sabria and Nikki talking about it when Nikki was here a couple of weeks ago.  I knew that “Circus Baby” is a character from a video game, because I helped put that particular costume together for Halloween.  I did not, however, have a clue about Cosplay, so I did what every other grandmother in the US would have done.  I Googled it.

According to who.com.au, “Cosplay is the act of dressing up as a character or concept…think Halloween costume but all year-round then dial it up to 11.)  Okay, I understood.  It was Sabria wanting to be someone else…hopefully for just the day, not the entire year.  There are times I want to be somebody else, and if I thought dressing up like that person would help, I’d give it a go.

“Cosplay” might be the word of the day, but it’s hardly a new concept.  One of my favorite customers at New Image Car Care was a little boy who insisted on being addressed as Spider Man, even by his own mom.  She was smart enough to go along with it.  He wore only Spider Man tee shirts, and when he came into my office, I addressed him accordingly.

When my niece, Melanie’s, little boy was five years old (he’s currently 15) he dressed up as Bat Man, even wearing the costume to school occasionally.  “I’m going to run across the yard,” he said to me once, “and I want you to see if my cape flies out behind me.”  As he ran, I yelled, “Look at that cape!  It’s really flying out behind you!”  He was as pleased with himself as I was after I saw the “Mary Poppins” movie, and jumped from our picnic table, feeling the slight updraft catch my umbrella before I landed.

When Melanie was a little girl, she would pretend to be different animals.  Once she went to the park dressed as a bunny, and no, it wasn’t Easter.  When both Nikki and Sabria were little children, they pretended to be dogs, complete with dog collars and water bowls.  I remember Nikki trying to communicate with me through barks, and I would have no idea what she was saying, so she would stand up and nudge what she wanted with her nose.  Sabria did similar things, carrying on the Cosplay—see how I cleverly inserted the current word for the activity—for over an hour at a time.  To this day, they both love dogs, so I guess the “walk in their shoes” concept gave them a special bond with the animals.

Natalie, who is not particularly fond of “My Hero Academia” nor “Circus Baby,” really hopes this is just a phase.  It is.  Every generation has its role models.  Remember Jackie Kennedy and her Pillbox hat?  Half the women in America wore one at the time.  Heck, there’s an airport policeman in Houston, Texas who believes Garey is a real cowboy.