“Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delight the heart. And they both take practice.” –Anonymous
As the activity coordinator of the 8th grade graduation celebration, I got to select and hire the entertainment. The temporary tattoo guy and DJ were already booked, so I got to focus on the magic. Given my proclivity to love, I liked the magician we found, Hart Keene, immediately, if only because of his first name. Making the arrangements proved a little challenging, as emails were lost in cyberspace and the signed contract never made it to his mailbox. It felt like magic, that we all arrived at the right place and right time.
His magic was captivating, and every time I looked up from the photo booth he was surrounded by a swarm of kids. Disappointed that I hadn’t been able to push my plan for a full on show, I was satisfied with the throngs of kids glued around him. I stuck my head in to watch and became the subject of one of his performances. Tom Robbins once said, “Using words to describe magic is like using a screwdriver to cut roast beef.” How can I explain what I still can’t understand; how my card, signed in indelible ink with my name moved through space in the blink of an eye, into his zippered wallet in his back pocket. I didn’t know what to say, except that few people, magicians included, have the real magic that Hart does.
The thing about magic is that when you let yourself believe in it, you see it everywhere. If you don’t believe in it, all that exists beyond the black and white physical world remains invisible to you. The world has known the wonders of magic that to this day cannot be explained or even conceived of by the master illusionists. Knowing how love and belief actually alters the physics of reality I am content to live in wonder. Tonight the middle school graduates, transitioning out of their childhood into a teen future that they are beginning to imagine, were content to revel in the magic of the moment.
Magic and love are made of the same stuff. Believing in what we can’t see or understand is a wild leap into trusting ourselves and knowing that life is always bigger and better than we imagine and it does take practice. Next time we are getting the full show….
