There is no magic

When Sarah was about four years old, I asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She gave me her standard answer – she wanted a horse. Reading my face (blank look = no horse) she added “and a real magic wand”.   Well, I figured she would have yet another disappointing holiday, but I found a totally cool magic wand that I thought she would love.   It was pink and silver plastic and used batteries to make the star on the end flash multicolored lights. When you moved the wand, the lights in the star lit up and the wand made an electronic musical sound, sort of like *zing*. OK, to an adult, that’s about as magical as it gets in this world.

 

So, Christmas morning came and Sarah opened her gifts.   She opened the box that had the wand. At first sight, she was thrilled.   As soon as she discovered its powers (light and sound), she jumped to her feet, took a defiant stance, and waved the wand authoritatively.   She stood there a moment and then glared at me. “This is not a real magic wand!” she declared disdainfully. “This is just a toy!” I nodded my head in agreement, and told her there are no such things as real magic wands. She argued, “Magic is real. Why can’t there be magic wands?” I told her I didn’t believe in magic, but sometimes it seems like things happen by magic when no other explanation makes sense.   I didn’t want to totally disillusion (disenchant?) the poor girl; her Christmas was already a disappointment.

I wish magic was real because wouldn’t it be nice to have power to control what happens in the world?   The down side is that there would always be evil people using magic for evil.  When I was little, I thought if I wished for something hard enough, it could come true.  Sarah - if you're reading this and you've found a real magic wand, let me know.  I have a list.... 

Finding magic

Sometimes, a little magic is needed to make things extra special in this life.  As an overly-practical person (honestly, I’m probably part Vulcan), my belief is that magic in not real.  Yet, I know that sometimes things are magical.

 

When Sarah was young, she asked for a real magic wand for Christmas.  Her disappointment that Christmas made me so sad.  If only I could have granted her simple wish.  But really, knowing that magic isn’t really real makes us appreciate magical moments all the more.

   

Last Thursday morning, I set my alarm and rolled out of bed extra early.  The weatherman predicted a fabulous day, and he was completely correct.  We had heavy fog, a good sign for this time of year that the day will be clear, not humid, and divine.  I loaded the kayak, and headed to the nearest lake (Greenbo).  The lake was all mine that morning.  No fishermen, no other kayakers, not even anyone fishing along the shores (that I could hear or see).  AHHHHH...I slid my kayak into the water and paddled way back, all the way back, into a cove.  Thick fog on the glassy water merged into a solid cloud of gray.  The marina behind me disappeared quickly, and no doubt I disappeared just as fast into the fog...nothing but the soft sound of my paddle cutting the water.  THAT was magic. 

Fog lifting on Greenbo

The air was still so that there was little drift when I stopped padding.  The fog made my hair damp and my clothes feel wet.  Fish swam up and circled to see what was this strange green vessel floating on the water.  As the fog began to lift, the world around me came alive.  Hawks shrieked above me, woodpeckers tapped on the trees, birds sang, I heard squirrels cutting nuts with their teeth, walnuts or hickory nuts dropping into the water, fish splashed – lots of fish in that lake, and turkeys everywhere.  Turkeys are noisy...it’s OK.  Turkeys are magic. They travel in flocks along the hills clucking to each other.  They aren’t all that pretty, but they’re big and plentiful around here.  I’m grateful for turkeys and hawks; they are magnificent. 

Late morning in September on Greenbo (after the fog)

Sarah and I did a road trip together this weekend.  We went to Indiana to visit my dad (her grandfather).  I was grateful to have company; I usually make the trip alone, and it’s a little more than five hours of driving each way.  We talked about everything, and even though we disagree on many of the world’s issues, it’s OK.  

On the way home, we stopped at IKEA, the first time either of us had visited one.  IKEA was pretty awesome – such a big (BIG) retail place, but much more awesome than that, was the rainbow that appeared in the sky as we pulled into the parking lot. We were in central Ohio, toward the western side between Dayton and Cincinnati where everything is flat and the rainbows are HUGE.  This rainbow was magical.  People all over the parking lot were standing around looking at it, and some employees stepped out of the store to take a look.  The world seemed to stand still for a few minutes as all marveled at the rainbow.  If God could put enough rainbows in the sky all at once, do you suppose we would have a few moments of world peace? 

         

Two weeks - count down

Sarah is getting married in two weeks from today!!  This morning, Emily went to the mall with me and together, we found a dress.  It was wonderful to have somebody come with me to collaborate, judge, zip/unzip, and fetch different sizes.  We both liked the dress I finally selected, although if I could wave a magic wand, my dress would be green or teal.  The blue is springy, at least.  Hopefully, spring will be here to stay in two weeks.  This dress is pictured on a tall, leggy model.  On me, the dress hits me at the upper half of my knee caps.  I have a white shrug to wear with it...and a string of pearls...I’m good to go.  Well, other than shoes.  I have navy blue shoes, but I might go get nude-color, same color as the model, but a different style.  I can’t deal with straps around my ankles.  They look nice, but they bug me way too much. 

My mother-of-bride dress

If Sarah’s daddy were alive, I think he would really like Sarah’s fiancé.  They are alike in many ways (good ways). Her fiancé’s father has also passed away; they have that in common.  What this means for their children is that they will not have grandfathers alive that they can meet.  I suppose it’s not that unusual these days, particularly because people wait longer to start families.  It seems odd to me because I knew my grandparents and great-grandparents pretty well.  (It seems that I am already planning a family for Sarah 😊).  

My father's mother's parents - they lived until I was 12 or 13 years old. 

I have plenty to do, but here I sit writing a blog post.  My alarm was set to go off at 8:15 this morning, but Someone got up early to go to his exercise class.  He got ready to go (making lots of noise), and then decided to go back to bed.  He slid back into bed and was quickly sawing the logs, but I was already thoroughly awake by that point.  It’s a great luxury to lay in bed doing nothing at all...molly lay atop of me purring loudly, and Gracie was stretched out beside me on her back, giving me the paw every time I stopped scratching her belly.  That might have been the main reason I didn’t go back to sleep.

Miss Molly likes to snuggle

Last weekend, Someone had a bad stomach bug.  Not wanting the catch the nastiness, I moved to the spare bedroom where we only have a twin-size bed (the room is very small).  Gracie insisted on sharing the bed with me, which left little room for either one of us.  Needless to say, it’s good to be back into my own bed.  I snapped this photo one morning – Gracie had not moved when I got up – you can see how she takes her half of the bed.  It’s kind of like that every night.  Someone and I start off the night with Gracie curled up tightly on the foot of the bed.  By morning, she has 50% of the bed in the middle and Someone and I have a few inches on each side.  We are all cozy, to say the least.  More times than not, Molly wants to share my part of the bed at some point during the night.  I am an animal magnet.

Gracie "sharing" the bed

My seeds arrived and are waiting to be planted...it’s a bit too early, but for a while there, I contemplated putting a few into the ground.  I have two kinds of lettuce, carrots, radishes, and onions for my raised bed.  I will go buy some Brussels sprouts and eggplant plants from the nursery to put in there as well when it opens for the season.  Someone is not a fan, but too bad.  The raised bed is my thing.  We also have the bigger garden where he can plant his beloved corn, beans, and tomatoes, and I plant cabbage and green peppers (and flowers for cutting).  This year, I’m going to try to grow sweet peas again.  They smell wonderful and are pretty...hopefully this year will be successful.

A box of hope and dreams