Moments of Magic

Have you noticed your magic moments? Because I promise you, they’re happening.

WISHES = MAGIC

My first memory of magic was when, at 12 years old, I asked the universe for special powers and it obliged. All I had to do was want something bad enough. Really, really, really, in my heart, want it bad. Starting in 7th grade if I crossed all my fingers, on both hands, including my thumbs, squeezed my eyes shut really tight, and chanted a wish in my head, it came true. Once I realized my innate power, I used it only for good. Things like wishing to pass my science exam (which I passed) and wishing my Grandma would stop by the house with doughnuts (and she did). I kept this power a secret, except for one late night slumber party where I revealed my magic to my best friend at the time. Not sure she believed me…but I believed me, and that’s all that really matters.

MEETING MY HUSBAND

One steamy Tuesday night in July, in a very loud, very crowded dance club, I noticed a cute guy looking at me from across the bar. I recognized him from college, but didn’t want to give up my seat to go say hi. The night went on, and I went on drinking and dancing with my BFF. I didn’t see cute-college-guy again, until closing time. My BFF said it was time to leave, so she grabbed my hand, and led me thru the sweaty crowd of hundreds to the exit. Set on the path to leave,  something made me look left (MAGIC!). There I saw cute-college-guy out of the corner of my eye. I dragged my BFF away from the exit and over to the guy. I said “Hey, how’s your summer?” and he said, “Do I know you?” Turns out it was not the guy I thought I knew from college, it was a complete stranger. But it was, and still is, my husband of nearly 20 years. I swear to this day that angels turned my head left to find him–I was most certainly under destiny’s magic spell that night.

MOVING AWAY FROM HOME

I’ve had wanderlust for as long as I can remember. The world is SO BIG and there’s SO MUCH to see, that staying in once place for too long kills me. So after 23 years in Michigan, I was ready for a change. But I couldn’t quite work out how to take that first step. So the first step was taken for me. The company I was working for at the time announced it was opening 5 new offices across the country. There it was, step 1: opportunity. Step 2 was to secure one of those jobs and a relo package to make it happen. Originally management said it was only sending senior team members to the new offices, of which I was not. But that didn’t deter me from meeting one-on-one with the president of our company and convincing him to send me to the Atlanta office. At 23 years old, I have no clue if that was an act of courage or stupidity. From that point on magic took over–I walked around in a dream-like state breaking my lease, telling my family and boyfriend that I was moving, and looking for a new apartment in Atlanta. It was both exhilarating and terrifying (a feeling I’d later to come realize called living.) The most vivid memory I have, is standing in front of the fax machine, sending my new apartment least to Atlanta, thinking: This decision is changing the course of my life.

GETTING OFF COURSE, GOT US ON COURSE

We were on a road trip along the Pacific, North of San Francisco. We were sight-seeing and escaping in more ways than one.

It had been a long few years of infertility and a miscarriage and we needed to clear our heads. After so much bad news, heartbreak and disappointment we were looking for fun. Or at the very least, a reprieve. So we drove along looking at lighthouses and hiking thru redwoods. One warm afternoon, while driving back to our cabin, we got lost. Or we thought we got lost. In fact, we were in the presence of magic. We ended up on a dirt road driving past a farm. With the windows down, I heard a noise that made me  yell “stop the car”. We got out and walked over to the fence, where we saw a mama cow in the final stages of labor. It was a sight like I’ve never seen. The calf slipped out, the mama licked it clean, and we stood there with tears in our eyes witnessing the miracle of birth. The very miracle we were trying and hoping for, for ourselves. And there she was, that baby calf, delivered to us by magic. As if to say, “Trust in the cycle of life. It’s closer than you think”. And it was. My son was born 1 year later.

SOUL SISTER

And just in case I need ongoing evidence of magic in my life, I have my sister. My twin, born two years after me. The number of magic moments we’ve shared cannot begin to be captured here–it’s endless. Just to name a few: picking up the phone to call her and it’s ringing from her calling me, getting married in the same year, renovating our homes in the same year, her daughter and my son born within hours of each other, showing up in the exact same outfit, communicating without words, knowing when something is wrong with the other, marrying extremely similar guys, her sitting at ball park 3,000 miles away from me talking about a TV show at the exact moment I call her to ask about said TV show…the list goes on. Because of my sister, I will never doubt the abundance of magic in the world. May you find your magic as well.