{She Said} How I Came to Believe in Magic

It was far before sunrise but I had been told it was time to get up. No problemo. Getting up was never a problem for me- time to start the day and I rose to say “good morning world, what do you have in store for me today.” I was odd.

I had forgotten the difference today was to be. It was a day to celebrate love. Valentine’s Day. As the realization struck me, I scooted myself off to find mom with only one question on my mind, “Did they visit?”

They had. Of course I am speaking of the Valentine’s Children. Everyone had that right? They would leave big baskets of goodies to teach the world about love. No?

Ok… another story then. In my usually exhausted fashion, I wondered home from kindergarten with stories to tell but I was really only concerned with one thing: food. I was starving in a big way. Dropping off my backpack on it’s hook, I went straight to the kitchen for a snack however when I got there, I stopped dead in my tracks. The hunger left me as I looked through the doorway it was gone. I rushed into the living room and looked to the floor. I checked behind the sofas, under chairs, in adjacent rooms. No where. I called for mom, as was clearly my pattern when excited, and asked where it had gone. After looking with me briefly, she calmly said that the Balloon Monster must have come and taken it while I was at school. She hadn’t seen him but he must have needed my prize balloon, from the weekend birthday party, to make another child happy now and that I should be proud that he chose mine to share.

Didn’t have one of those either?

Well surely you have wonderful memories with the likes of Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. Then you have experienced the magic too. My mom just took it a step further.

The Greeks and Romans had their gods to teach them about love and generosity. My house had the Valentine Children and Balloon Monster. And it was magical. Sometimes I knew when these beings would visit and sometimes it was a surprise but it made an otherwise banal event extraordinary. Magical.

When I reached the moment where I realized the unreal nature of these beings, at first I was resentful. How could they not be real? Why did mom set be up for such disappointment? But now that the balloons don’t disappear on their own to be given to a child in need of happiness and Valentines come from another, less mystical being, my husband, I realize the enormity of that gift from my mom.

Of course, there were other magical beings that weren’t quite as positive. If children left their toys around instead of picking up after playing, the toy vortex that appeared and sucked them into the trash (one that was proven to be true one day when I returned home to find some toys actually in the trash). There was also that elusive fairy that apparently DIDN’T come around and clean the house, which was brought up to remind me that my mom actually had to do it.

Mom created magic for my sister and I whenever possible. This went down to the details of when we were taken to Disney Land so that we would believe the people in big furry costumes were ACTUALLY the real Minnie Mouse and Goofy. Holiday parties were seamlessly planned with magical decorations and activities around every corner. We even lived in a house where, on 4th of July, a parade went by on the street in front of the house and fireworks, that were shot off from the Country Club behind our house, could be seen from our backyard.

As I have come to appreciate the magic, I have started to try to recreate it. While under the guise of doing this for the ones I love, it is actually a guilty pleasure in that I want the magic for myself. I am a magic addict. Why not make things magical. If we are going to have holidays and have to throw balloons away anyway, why not have those things be out of this world.

This is my challenge in life and my mom set the bar high. I am proud to proclaim my belief in magic. It’s magical.

Hope you had a magical 4th of July!