Do You Believe In Magic?

As I kid, I believed in magic. And magicians. I believed in the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus too.  So magic was not really that big of a stretch.

One day, in a magazine I was looking at, a little leaflet fell out.  It was a postcard I could fill out to receive a box full of magic.  I was six years old.  This sounded awesome.  Someone was going to send me the magic stuff, and I would soon be on my way to becoming a true magician.  I believed that without question. So I filled out the information in my best 1st grader handwriting and checked the box that said, "Bill Me Later".

Within a few weeks, my box of magic arrived.  But the box was much flimsier than I expected it to be.  And as I pulled out the magical items, I was super disappointed to see a crappy plastic wand, and a dinky plastic flower.  And a set of directions for a few tricks.

A set of directions?  For magic?  WHAT?  This is not at all what I expected.  I thought I was ordering magic.  I didn't quite know what that meant, or what it would look like, but I was pretty sure I was going to know it as soon as I saw it.  But THIS crap?  This was NOT magic.

So I complained to my Mom.  And then Mom started questioning me, "Where did you get this?  Who gave this to you?"  Then, all of the sudden, Mom seemed mad at me.  I remember she either called or wrote a letter to the company berating them for fulfilling an order from a 6 year old.

I don't remember if we sent the fake magic back, or if we just threw it away.  But that was the day the jig was up.  Magic wasn't magical.  Magic was just a load of TRICKS.  Such a huge disappointment for a little kid.  I thought I was going to really be able to make some stuff happen.  Magical stuff.  I had no interest in trickery.

But some days, life still shows me that there's a different kind of magic than what I had in mind when I was 6.  And it this magic is real.  And it doesn't require any trickery at all.  (In some cases, it does require a harpsichord though!)