MAGIC MOMENTS

Puzzle box by Martha Slavin

Sometimes life comes with a bit of magic, or at least with a sense of humor. This past month with national news and being busy unpacking, rearranging, and waiting for deliveries to our new place, I needed to find some magic around me.

Each morning I take a photo of the view from our window. I capture the creek and the skyscrapers across the way. Looking down to the park below, I can watch a group perform Tai Chi. I hear the tinkling Chinese music as the group slowly moves through the prescribed motions. Usually, their movement is slow and constrained. Today I glanced down and to my surprise, disorder reined. With his back to the group as usual, the leader waved a wand with a red pompom on the end of a string instead of his sword. The pompom swayed faster through the movements than usual. Three others followed his lead. Behind them, a young woman bounced around with her own rhythm, following the movements but with a touch of rock and roll. Another woman with a stroller danced with her side facing the group at her own speed. I wondered what happened this morning that created such change? Were they looking for a little magic too?

An artist friend and I exchange postcards occasionally. Christine sent me her latest card, composed of 30 drawings of the fantastical art at Burning Man, the annual event held every year at Black Rock Desert. I've never been to the event because of the heat and the blowing sand. She drew 30 3-dimensional constructions she found there including an old VW bus painted in wild psychedelic colors and a dragon slinking through the sand. She showed me some of the magic of the place.

Burning Man postcard by Christine Brooks

Just before Thanksgiving, Bill and I went to Berkeley Bowl, a grocery store founded by the Yasuda family in 1977 as a place to find organic and natural products. Bill and I are on the opposite ends of the extrovert/introvert scale. He loves being in crowds and I like quiet. If he spends too much time in our apartment, he gets antsy and needs to go out for some sunshine and crowds. When I go to a grocery store during the holidays, I become an extrovert. I love being among the bustling shoppers. Almost always, I found the people more friendly and full of good cheer. I know that they, like me, are thinking of the good times ahead as they pick fresh produce, stand in line at the butcher counter, or select a special cheese for an appetizer. We are often more courteous with each other as we navigate around the aisles.

Bill has the opposite reaction in grocery stores and can hardly wait to leave, which reminded me of our shopping together in Paris markets. The customers were not always as courteous as those holiday shoppers and often bumped their carts against Bill as we stood in line at the checkout counter. The holidays changed their attitude and brought out smiles and well-wishes all around. A little magic we all need at the end of the year.

Window View for November by Martha Slavin