A Few Words About My Name

Over the last week or so, I've mentioned to people who know me IRL that I have a blog. They seem interested, even if only to be polite, until I tell them the name of it.

Somehow, the name "Mistress of All Evil" just scares some people off. Imagine!

Actually, I thought it was blatantly obvious that it was a joke. I mean, "mild mannered" doesn't even begin to describe how un-Evil I am. Polite, yes, eager to be liked, yes. Evil? Um...no. Not so much.

And yet, two separate people who have known me for years got the yips when I told them my name. They were appeased only after I told them the origin of my sobriquet. Prophylactically, therefore, I do the same here.

The Bunny's favorite movie since she was 2 has been "Sleeping Beauty." The Disney version, of course, which was my favorite when I was about 4 myself. As a result, The Bunny's favorite villain is Maleficent, the wicked fairy.

As I sat with her, watching this movie for about the eleventy-millionth time, I began to contemplate the nature of Disney fairies. I mean, if you had magical powers of transformation, what would you do for yourself? Would you run around in a shapeless gray cloak with gray hair and an extremely round figure? Or would you make yourself tall, slim, and shapely? Okay, the giant black horn hat is a bit over the top, and not something I would wear myself, but you see the point. If I had magic powers, I wouldn't be a dumpy old lady, no sir! I'd be something stylish!

So, just for fun, I mentioned it to the kidlets--that maybe I should be like Maleficent. And bless their perceptive little hearts, they got the joke and laughed. "Oh Mama," they said, and pointed out that I was entirely unlike her in every possible way.

This became a great joke among the three of us, and actually came in handy as a parenting tool. There were occasions when I had to tell the kidlets to do something they didn't want to do, and so they objected. "But why do we have to?"

And I replied, "Because, I am the Mistress of all Evil!" I tried to sound as much like Maleficent as she delivers that line, and added my own evil cackle for good measure.

And it never failed to crack them up. But--and this is the parenting tool part--they understood that I doing it for important reasons, and so they would actually do what I asked.

The beauty part of this is that we avoided actually arguing about it. I never had to say "because I'm the mother, that's why" or "because I say so, that's why" or engage in other forms of conflict. I said "because I am the Mistress of Allllll Evil" and they got it.

Maybe I am way scarier than I think, but that means the kidlets are more perceptive than my adult friends, which makes them prodigies, I guess.