Magic, Muse and Inspired

Don't you love the moment right before the magician lifts his red handkerchief to reveal a perfect little white bunny? The moment before judgement, the moment when everything seems possible, is magic. 

When the handkerchief is lifted and the rabbit appears, your mind travels to the how, where and why. Magic dissipates, logic enters.

I love to try to figure what makes certain people tick....and when they are magical, it is really, really beautiful. Three people are sticking out in my head these days.

So I was looking at my cousin Mimi the other day. I realized that the reason I never run out of things to say to her is that she is full of magic. I will never for the life of me figure her out. She has ADD, has trouble finishing tasks but loves every second of the tiny details in life, the things that you never take the time to look at (yep, I ended that in a preposition). She will spend five days making a teeny weeny hat...for absolutely no one, or maybe for Stuart Little. I sometimes hold my breath and suspend my disbelief to follow her into Never Never Land. 

Then there is Kelly. Kelly is a strange kindred spirit. We met under interesting circumstance and have continued to amuse each other for a little while. I love that she writes me these long, flowery, imaginative emails full of insight and minutia. I never, ever feel I do her justice in my responses. I secretly fear that she is going to stop writing me.

She writes:

"My closet is a disaster! I need to organize in a BIG way, I have decided to make a list of short little 'commandments' to live by, not really rules because I hate the word rules, it just seems to take the joy out of things a little and it’s such a restricting word.  Some of them are things like, do it now, laugh every day, chose not to take things personally, always see the magic, encourage, enjoy the process, rejoice in beauty, etc etc. I think that there are like 24 of them, and I made sure to use positive or inspiring phrases, only one of them has the word don’t in it."

It's interesting, the thoughts that go through your head when you clean your closet. You get the chance to do mental housekeeping. I imagine Kelly going through her closet, pulling out Hope and Laughter from her sweater rack. The thought of her strange brain makes me feel that something interesting lies ahead. It is this anticipation that makes me want to paint, photograph, sculpt, write and bake.

Finally, Stephanie. Stephanie and I were talking about magic, only we always talk about it in the language of creativity, since she is also a fellow artist. 

She gave me a quote that I am in love with right now. I've read it six times today.

“To be nobody-but-yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” ~E.E. Cummings

What I find interesting is that Stephanie delivered this quote to me...and it was a gift. I don't think the gift was the quote though. The gift was the beautiful coincidence that I already feel she lives this quote; that she is my constant reminder of this great human strength.

I love the thought of her in New York, creating beautiful music, meeting interesting people and feeling the world with her hands. 

So there it is. Magic, Muse and Inspired.

The moment before you pull the rabbit out and the magician is about to say "Abracadabra!" you see things with clarity, simplicity and beauty. 

It all doesn't have to make sense. Does it?

Not in the way you think, at least.