Today is full of truly magical highlights, and I am not sure where to begin. I guess they are a bit more like magical ramblings, so I’ll just start any old place, in random order.
This is the date, December 6, on which the 13th Amendment was ratified. It is the one abolishing slavery. Although, these days, many Americans, including the President, are paying little attention to the laws of the United States Constitution, on which this country used to be firmly seated. It is an incredibly scary thing to see so many people who no longer recognize our governing document. As for the 13th Amendment. This is one of the most powerful in our history, and one I hope we never set aside. So many lives were lost in this particular fight for this justice. Oh, but the freedom, is magic. Although, in many ways, the struggle continues.
Ironically, today is the birthday (1833) of John Singleton Mosby, a Confederate Army commander in the American Civil War. He was also know as the “Gray Ghost.” He carried out lightning quick raids and had this uncanny ability to elude the Union guys. He, and all his men would disappear, blending in with local farmers and townsmen. His rivals thought he had magic.
There are a few more birthdays of note. At least to me. There is Agnes Morehead (b. 1900), the wonderful, magical, sure-fire, interfering, menacing mother-in-law. That Endora, in the TV show Bewitched. I loved that show, but truthfully, she scared me just a wee bit. I learned that she is buried somewhere in Dayton, Ohio, in some crypt on Dixie Drive. I might have to go over some morning and pay my respects. I loved all her magic.
The next guy with a cake full of candles, is Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin. He is considered the father of modern magic. Robert-Houdin was the first magician-guy to perform in a theatre in formal clothes. All gussied up. Almost all magicians followed that style for a long time. He could make an orange tree grow before an audience’s eyes. He also had some sort of trick with an alternating light and heavy chest. Harry Houdini adopted his name to honor him. Magic in the Houdin-est.
Finally, on the birthday riff, is Joyce Kilmer (1886). A poet. He always reminds me of my Dad, because Kilmer’s poem “Trees” was one that Dad was always reciting to us. A lot. I only remember the first and last lines…. “I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree.” And….. “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” And that is the ultimate magic.
Sadly, Kilmer died fighting in France in 1918, in the first World War. He was only 31.
And, this morning, I was thinking about how people fill out those questionnaires on Facebook, that tell everyone their favorite things. So, here is one for me.
My favorite numbers, from best to worst are:
7, 8, 3, 2, 4, 9, 1, 5, 6. Sometimes, they are like magic.
Every day, there might be something magical waiting for us. A sign from above, or a prize at the bottom of the bag. A gift, a green light, a thumbs up, or a nice smile. And sometimes, we are the ones who give out the good magic. If we simply let it flow.
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“It is frightfully difficult to know much about the fairies, and almost the only thing for certain is that there are fairies wherever there are children.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
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“But all the magic I have known
I’ve had to make myself.”
― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends
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“If magic was present, it moved under the skin of the world, beneath the ability of human eyes to catch sight of it.”
― Gregory Maguire, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
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