It's Magic

Excerpt from Aiden's Magic Show...

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Despite the stresses and worries of the past few days, we are blessed in the Seyfried house. Who cares if the Broadway show Steve and I had tickets for this week was cancelled (along with Pennsylvania Ballet with Ya-Jhu on Thursday, and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society concert with Sheridan next Tuesday, and and and)?? We have our own little live-in entertainment, Aiden and Peter! The boys are blissfully unaware of what’s going on in the world (except for the fact that school is closed--which for a preschooler and a kindergartener is actually a cause for sadness). Mama, Baba, Nana and Pa are constantly on the premises (yay!) There are walks in the sunshine and bike rides with their parents, there’s baking with me and TV watching with Steve. Thanks to Mama Ya-Jhu, there are art materials and library books aplenty. The Brio trains, those sturdy if pricey wooden wonders, were brought down from the attic recently, and are enthralling the offspring of their original owner.

But it’s the magic shows that bring me right back. Sheridan at age five was all about performance, usually recreating his parents’ children’s theatre plays, with trusty sidekick Evan playing a supporting role. I fondly recall little Alex (as Sher once was known) doing the “disappearing gold coin trick” from Pedrolino in a Pinch. “I hold the gold...enfold the gold and...behold!” he would announce after conspicuously pocketing the coin in question. We would ooh and aah over this feat of prestidigitation, prompting many a repeat of his “trick.” 

Yesterday Aiden decided it was his turn to wow us. In the morning he created tickets for each of us, on which he’d written our names and the price ($1011, such a deal!) , assigning his small brother the job of box office manager. Sher very sweetly worked with his son on the two tricks that would later make up Aiden’s Magic Show. At 7:00 PM all was ready. Peter solemnly collected our tickets in a basket. We sat on the sofa in the family room as our Houdini made, first a piece of paper, then a Matchbox car, “disappear” after covering them with a box. Soon it was done. Aiden took his bow to our applause, and immediately invited us to a NEW magic show, with NEW tricks, scheduled for tonight.

One of my favorite parts of Little Women is the description of the plays the four March girls would present to their family and friends. Jo would write the scripts and assemble the cast, and a grand time was had by all. I think of the difficult times in which the book was set, and it is easy to identify. We humans are hardwired, I think, for optimism (it’s what has enabled us to survive as a species). And the pleasures of entertaining each other, even during crises (going back to ancient campfire stories) are eternal.

In these tough days, I still believe in joy. I believe in laughter.

I believe in magic.