A few days ago, I was driving with my 12-year-old daughter when she asked me if I believed in magic. She paused for a moment and then said, “Never mind, I know what you’ll say. You think there are things that feel like magic, but you don’t believe in actual magic. I really believe in magic, though.”
I’d love to claim that I still believe in magic, but her assessment was pretty dead on. Because, you know what, someone has to make the magic.
It feels like magic every time I see a hummingbird feeding off the flower pots on my deck. They look like little fairies as they hover and fly, their wings beating at least 50 times each second. Every time I see one, I’m so grateful it exists in this world and that it chose to visit my deck.
But it also chose to visit my deck because I knew I could never maintain a hummingbird feeder, so I researched flowers that attract hummingbirds, and every year, I make sure my patio pots have some Salvia guaranitica (black and blue) and Lobelia erinus. It’s magical, and it’s staged—just like so many things we do as parents.
Whether it’s a daily occurrence, like the magic that sometimes happens when everyone’s peacefully eating dinner together, it came because someone prepared—or at least procured—the food. (If you need to make dinner magic happen tonight, check out our Tastemakers for some recipes from Land of 10,000 Recipes blogger Jenna Gorman.)
Or it’s a special event, like a high school graduation party, someone had to book the venue in August and secure the catering in January. (If you have a graduating senior this year, check out Our Guide for Hosting the Ultimate Grad Party to see what else has to happen to make the magic in June.)
And even though I’ve fully transitioned from magic believer to magic maker, I hope that I’ll always be able to see the magic. Whether you make it or believe it, I hope your world is filled with lots of magic—and that you’re still able to see it.
