The Leprechaun Trap

It seems like every holiday takes me back to family traditions and fun school memories as a child. On St. Patrick’s Day when I was in elementary school, we were assigned a very fun project that I still remember today. It also left me with a reminder about life.

Our goal was to catch a leprechaun! The instructions were to get a pencil box and decorate it with stickers, glitter, or art of any kind. We were told to use our creativity and design the box any way that we liked. Our teacher helped us cut out a pot of gold and a rainbow made out of construction paper. We put this inside the pencil box to lure the leprechauns in. The final piece was to put an upright pencil inside of the box to prop open the lid. We placed these on our desks as we left for the day and waited for the magic!

That Night

I remember going home so excited to tell my parents and my sister what I had made in class and what we were going to catch that night. I was excited with anticipation of wondering what we might see the next day. My mind flooded with thoughts. “Are leprechauns real?” “Is it possible to catch one?” “What if this is just for fun?” I tried not to let those thoughts keep me from the fun! I was a child that adored magic and I liked to believe in anything and everything. I felt that it created so much happiness and excitement.

I couldn’t wait to get back to school the next day. My mind was busy wondering if we had caught anything in our traps! The possibility was thrilling.

The Next Day

I went to school the next day dressed in green with my treats in hand for the classroom party. I walked quickly into the classroom to see what had unfolded from the night before. There were tiny black footprints on our desks and the walls. We could find these little prints around the room. They were on the tables, in the bathroom, on the floor…it was magical!

Our teacher had used paint and a sponge to create these little footprints, like that from the black boots of a tiny leprechaun. My heart filled with joy! At that very moment, leprechauns were real, even if only in my heart.

Life Relationship

There is a lot in life that we wonder about. There are many things that we can’t see or explain. There is always the possibility that someone or something in our lives isn’t real, but we keep going and believing in whatever makes us happy, whatever brings us joy in this crazy world.

We have goals and dreams. We might know that the possibility of reaching these dreams is very small, but a possibility is a possibility. There is a chance, and it is that hope that we hold onto! Keeping hope lets us have fun and keeps us motivated. We keep trying and trying until we are the person that we want to be, and we keep persisting until our dreams have been met.

Even when we knew we possibly wouldn’t catch a leprechaun, the chance was there and that made for some magical and fun memories! I think that we could all benefit greatly in life if we chose to keep hope alive and know that there is a chance for anything to happen, no matter how small!