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“Perhaps the magic would last, perhaps it wouldn’t. But then again, what does?”

If you checked the dictionary for fall, you’d see a picture of today. It is a delight. The very bright sun shines through and highlights the leaves still hanging off the oak tree branches. It is nearly 60°. I had to check the dogs as they were outside for so long. Both came running when they saw me on the deck, but they stayed outside. Today is the perfect day to string the new white lights on the deck rail. I’m sure the spawns of Satan will be excited to have new wires to chew.

When I was a kid, I never made lists. My life wasn’t at all complicated. It followed the same pattern every day: wake up, eat breakfast, dress for school, head off walking to school and stay there most of the day. When I got home, I played outside as long as I could. This time of year it wasn’t very long. I always did my homework before supper. The evenings too were the same: eat dinner, watch TV, read a bit before bed then go to bed early. As my mother always reminded us, “It’s a school night.”

I make lists now. I have found that I forget things, hence the lists. They are taped on my table so I can add to them. One list is my grocery list for the big shopping I do every month. This list is for December. If I need anything in between, I stop at Ring’s, my favorite store. My dance card is also taped to the table. I have only one entry left for this week, a concert tomorrow in Mashpee. My to do list is front and center on the table. I put no date on the list. I’ll get to it when I get to it. There is no hurry. The list has only two items: water my plants and change my bed. Maybe Ill finish today but maybe not.

I remember walking home from my aunt’s house one day. She lived only a few blocks away. Sometimes I took the road, but mostly I took a short cut. It was along a metal fence without a gate so I’d have to jump the fence. The jumping spot was just up the hill from my house. I remember walking home one day along the fence and wishing I could buy a new book, but I’d ready spent my 50¢ allowance. I stopped for a bit of a rest and right at my feet I found a 50¢ piece. I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was magic. I bought a new Trixie Belden book.

I never questioned the magic.

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This entry was posted on November 16, 2023 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Comments on ““Perhaps the magic would last, perhaps it wouldn’t. But then again, what does?””

  1. Bob's avatar Bob Says:

    November 16, 2023 at 2:51 pm

    Hi Kat,

    Today is cloudy with a little mist mixed in. The clouds were supposed to clear up by lunchtime, which hasn’t happened, and reach a high temperature of 70°.

    I stopped making lists a while ago because I never completed them. I like your idea of taping the todo list to your table. Every time you sit down to eat something your remaining items are right in front of you giving you guilt.

    My days are very similar. My spouse thinks I’m boring, and I probably am boring. I’m taking the days before Thanksgiving off and I need to plan some activities for my spouse and I.

    Finding that money near that fence was not magic but just serendipity. There really is nothing that’s magical, but just something that’s not yet proven or understood by science. We might think that a beautiful autumn day is magical, but in reality the trees are just doing their normal thing, the weather is controlled by the location of the jet stream doing its normal thing according to the season of the year.

    Earlier in the week I had a toothache and when I went to the dentist this morning the pain magically went away. She did find a hairline crack by X-ray in the root of one molar but obviously the nerve in that tooth is now dead. All her other physical tests couldn’t cause the pain to return. If the pain does return, it won’t be magical but just annoying and expensive. 🙂

    • katry's avatar katry Says:

      November 16, 2023 at 5:10 pm

      Hi Bob,
      I was all of nine or ten when I found the money. A kid doesn’t think serendipity but rather magic that I found it just after I wished.

      I no longer feel guilty by what I don’t do. If I spend the day reading or relaxing, it is a day well spent. I put the lists where I can see then so I don’t forget. I also have one with appointments and obligations.

      I don’t find myself boring nor should you. You don’t have to be busy. I spent 35 years being busy working. I have earned boring.

      I’m sorry you don’t see magic. Even the word wonderful reflects a sense of magic, of wonder. Not everything can be explained by science. I think a sense of wonder keeps us amazed and delighted by our world. We appreciate things like the colors of the sun when rising and falling and the joyful sounds of the birds greeting the morning. I don’t want scientific, cold interpretations of what I see.

      I find toothaches horrifically painful. Sometimes nothing works to dull the pain. I had one over the weekend once and I went through several painkillers for teeth which hardly worked. I wish there were emergency dentists like there are emergency doctors.


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