My child looked to me with excitement in her eyes and said, “Mommy! Let’s go upstairs!” Of course, I agreed and followed her curiously as she scooped an armful of princess dolls into her arms along with some pink plastic furniture. I stood at the bottom of the stairs where she announced we were going to fly to Florida now. “Yes, Captain! Ready for takeoff!” We climbed the stairs, and I leaned on the door frame as she set up a blanket on the floor, and arranged boxes and the plastic bed and couch in the corner. Quickly followed by a barricade of hampers, toy baskets, and the giant Pikachu that was the same size as her a year ago.

“What is this?” I ask. I am promptly told that this is the hotel in Florida, and Pikachu is serving as the guard cat so no non-princess dolls can enter the hotel. I’m shown the garage for the toy cars and monster trucks, who have their own private door at the hotel. She marches past me and enters my room with all of her dolls as I watch curiously. Naturally, I follow her and watch as she takes a large empty container and sets up the pillows where her dolls take turns lounging. I only just manage to get my hands up to catch the remote for the television as she tosses it to me. “Pool parties need music!” She declares.

She’s the captain of this excursion after all. That is when I knew. Tonight, I would be a Floridian DJ. Proud, I flip the power button and navigate us to Youtube, where she expressly screams for BLACK PINK! The first time the K-pop singers say their name, the party is on. The princesses started a diving contest, and I was the judge from atop my DJ booth. Obviously, the Barbie in the swimsuit had magic mermaid powers and was declared the winner, with the best dive from atop the nearby rock formation; Mount Duvet.

As the dolls slow clapped the flawless dive, DJ Miss Brittany Mommy declared a dance-off. To my daughter’s surprise, the articulated dolls won. They danced the BTS choreography nearly perfect. Well, in slow motion anyway. And just like that, the clock struck bedtime. “Just one more song from the best DJ ever!?” Well, how could I say no? The crowd wasn’t ready to call it a night. Twice, another K-pop girl group. (We’ll discuss our K-pop addiction later, stay in Florida will you?)

As the song went off, I saw my daughter learning the dance moves. This must be how my parents watched my sister and me in amazement as we absorbed every dance move the Backstreet Boys ever rocked their bodies to.

At the end of the night, my daughter had a smile, a new Barbie hotel, and I had a new job title to add to my resume. I had run one of the best pool parties Florida had ever seen, and I didn’t even have to go to Florida for it.

“Ah, the imagination children have.” I thought, “I shall recapture mine in this year. I shall travel impossible distances, collect my dream jobs, and spend quality time while making memories with my child!”

So here we are. Brittany; blogger, writer, DJ.

Where else shall we go I wonder?….