The Magic Drawer!

 

"Oh the things that happen when we believe in magic!"

The mystical places our minds carry us as children, imprint our lives from that time on.

When I was a tyke, living in a small rural village on the shores of the ancient Ohio River, our father would make a practice to tell us stories on Saturday nights. This was most special as much of the time dad was on the road, in faraway places. He built the steel skeletons of high rises, skyscrapers, other commercial buildings and bridges.

Our dad was an Ironworker!

He walked the skinny steel beams high in the air, facing danger and death daily without fear. Because of that, he was gone most every week and only came home on the weekends.

Our father was a man of many wonderful and exciting self taught skills. Dad was not of a singular bent, but took life’s full measure readily. Amongst his other talents, he spoke several languages with aplomb. He was vaudevillian entertainer, a reporter and editor for newspapers, a teacher, a Chief Boatswain’s Mate, a Shawnee Elder, a enchanting singer and a skilled medical practitioner. He had always wanted to become a doctor.

All these life experiences of course, made his story telling most special!

His fables could transport one, child or elder, to places created in his fertile mind, so vivid one could feel the imagined breeze, taste the fruit and smell the sea air.

He was the most skilled storyteller I have ever heard.

My dad made magic real for me, this once a little fella, now a septuagenarian… and that belief has never faded.

What does that have to do with a Magic Drawer?

For one to understand the why, I needed to set the scene for you to understand, that although I don’t actually believe that things magically happen, I do embrace the possibility.

In my home as an example, there are indeed Magic Drawers. Every day when I arise, I go to the magic underwear drawer, with complete confidence that I will find fresh, neatly folded, laundered boxers and socks!

Voile! Like magic, they are always there.

This morning my belief was shaken. The drawer was not filled with mystic parcels of undergarments, but was nearly bare. I called out, “Honey, where are my new special sock I just got for my birthday?” Her reply, “We’ve been away for shipping and doctoring for the last couple of days and I haven’t done the laundry.”  

As the younger generations are want to say, “Like Duh?”

Yes, the secret of the Magic Drawers is the loving care of  my wife and life partner Lolita. She is the real magician in our domicile. She is the cause of my Magic Drawer. And I am forever thankful.

I am one happy child, in this time worn skin of an old man, knowing that there really is a Magic Drawer!

BTW: I do not burden Lo with all the household chores, but do pitch in and do the wash, cook and clean a fair share of the time. Nonetheless, I greatly appreciate the little things that she does, in her magical way… every much as I do the grand and wonderful acts that are a part of our half century love affair.

Yes, we have a Magic Drawer in our home!