Hast thou seen the White Whale? Four-year-old Annabelle Earl saw hers, and she chased it with such fervor that the whole city's talking about it. Miss Earl's wishes were simple, really. On a recent trip to the "Wishing Tree" at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., Annabelle asked the tree for a rainbow unicorn for a pet — like, the real-live kind. Luckily, she wasn't too devastated to learn that unicorns aren't real, and instead turned her attentions towards Life Goal #2: being a flower girl.
Because Annabelle's mother, Kim, didn't know anyone who was getting married, she took her daughter to the City Clerk's office in Manhattan. With homemade poster and pink-purple roses in hand, Annabelle offered up her services. "We stood there, and she held up her sign, and people walked past and would smile, but no one came up to her," her mother told NBC. So, the Earl ladies began to approach couples, instead.
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Though the first couple politely declined, the second were happy to include Annabelle. "She was too adorable to say no to, and we thought it would be fun to make her day as well as ours," the bride told NBC. After the ceremony, little Annabelle gave her flowers to the bride and asked the question we all wonder at a wedding: "Is there cake?"
Already, we're hearing faint rumblings — the distant thunder of readers who'll decry this event as an example of the problem with Disney-princess movies and the like. (You know, how they teach young girls that the only thing important in life is marriage.) And, maybe those readers have a point. But, maybe — just for today — we won't take it there. Maybe, for today, we'll just appreciate how sweet this is. Because Annabelle is four, adorable, and clearly doesn't own a copy of The Giving Tree. (NBC)