By CAROL THOMPSON
Special to the Signal Tribune
In the friendship garden, Cayley the fairy works magic with music from her mandolin. The music that pours from her heart gives sustenance to the garden and its inhabitants. Flowers bloom, bunnies dance in joyous celebration. Cayley is doing what she loves and, in doing so, she touches the lives of all who pass her way.
Art imitates life and vise versa, for the story of Cayley is in many ways, the story of Long Beach resident Tracy Farr, who has brought Cayley to life through her creative talent and her desire to bring a healing touch to lives around her.
Cayley the Musical Fairy, Farr’s first foray into the world of children’s literature and media, is a summation of Farr’s creative talents and life experience. Through lush illustration, Farr tells the story of Cayley the fairy, whose life is filled with happiness until she meets an angry man who says mean things to her. She is saddened by his cruelty and begins to doubt her value, but soon learns that the power to feel happy again resides within her.
“It is the battle I have dealt with all my life,” says Farr. Farr hopes that, instead of working to undo negative thinking about one’s abilities and talents, Cayley can help nip negative thinking in the bud, allowing children to bloom with the power of positive thoughts.
A Long Beach resident since attending California State University, Long Beach, where she completed a degree in photography, Farr toiled in the world of photography and graphic arts before deciding that the world of commercial photography was not for her. She stepped away from creative endeavors in the business world to pursue a different art form, the healing art of massage therapy.
Along with her practice as a massage therapist, she competed esthetician school, which led her to working for two years as the esthetician at the Queen Mary Hotel spa. While she enjoyed her work creating glowing brides, she came to a point where she felt that she had grown as much as she had desired in that field and was ready for something else.
After giving birth to her son Jarrett, Farr has spent the past two years at home where, with the encouragement of her family, she decided to channel her creative talent into writing and illustrating a children’s story. After researching the field, she discovered one theme missing in children’s literature was a theme close to her heart: the type of thoughts we cultivate and hold onto affect how we feel about ourselves and our experience in the world.
“Thinking negatively or positively about ourselves is a learned behavior,” explains Farr. “We can train ourselves to hold onto positive thoughts and, like a muscle, the more we practice positive thinking the more it becomes a natural part of us.”
While Farr has sold her DVD at several Long Beach businesses and online through her website www.cayleythemusicalfairy.com, she is most excited about an opportunity she has created to partner with charitable organizations for fundraising.
At the suggestion of a friend, Farr recently partnered with the Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) Initiative to raise money through online sales of her DVD (www.scid.net/help). The SCID Initiative is a fund sponsored and managed by the Immune Deficiency Foundation, the national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the diagnosis, treatment and quality of life of persons with Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases. Often called “bubble boy disease,” SCID became widely known during the 70s and 80s when the world learned of David Vetter, a boy with X-linked SCID, who lived for 12 years in a plastic, germ-free bubble. The SCID Initiative was created with the goal of supporting SCID-specific programs including education, awareness, diagnosis, newborn screening and the search for a cure. For each DVD sold, Farr donates $2 to SCID.
“SCID is a good fit for Cayley. Children facing serious illness and their parents need all the support they can get,” says Farr. Parents have told her that their children respond to the soothing music and imagery in Cayley and find its message uplifting.
Because teaching the power of positive thought is a universal theme, Farr hopes that other organizations will find Cayley The Musical Fairy to be a good fit their for fundraising efforts and welcomes contact by interested organizations.
Currently, Cayley the Musical Fairy is available only as a DVD, with narration by Farr and music by Farr’s husband, Brian Farr. Brian, a sound engineer at Blizzard Entertainment, wrote the music and played the mandolin as well as provided the technical expertise in producing the DVD.
