Towel Head, Magic Heart

Hopefully you’ve read this month’s issue of No Stone Left Unturned, Everything is Magical. In it, I discuss the magical moments that surround us everyday of our lives. I make a minor point of distinguishing the difference between “magical” things and “magic” things. The other day I had a magical moment that occurred because of magic.

Basically, the short version is this: I was washing my hands in my bathroom. Right before washing my hands, I noticed that my towel was hanging over the top of the shower door. When I was done washing my hands, I looked over at the shower door ready to dry my hands on the hanging towel, and I saw it vanish. Then I saw it magically reappear on the towel rack next to the shower door.

Then, of course, I quickly remembered that right before washing my hands, I moved the towel from the shower door to the towel rack because it’s closer to the sink.

For that brief second, however, when I forgot that I moved the towel, my brain filled in all the gaps needed. It was expecting the towel to be on the shower. When it wasn’t there, it actually sort of “saw” it “residually” from a moment ago; then the image of it vanished. At the same time, the image of the towel on the rack was also “residually” not there. Then in an instant, my mind saw reality both on the shower and the towel rack.

That brief second was enough for the appearance of real magic. The irony is that the moment of magic wasn’t the magical part of the experience. The realization of what my brain had done was the magical moment. It was a beautiful moment where my brain caused me to experience magic . . . that was very magical.

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root: Not only is Everything “Magical” but “Magic” (not to be confused with “Magical”) is everywhere.

Seek and ye shall find. It’s everywhere folks. This isn’t the first time something like this towel thing has happened to me. One time, my computer mouse vanished. I actually felt it vanish. It was quite freaky.

This morning when my towel “vanished,” it reminded me of an idea I had years ago that I’ve never tried, but I know would truly create a moment of astonishment. This effect assumes that you have kids, but if not, read on; you’ll still get the power of this. It’s not uncommon for us, when bathing our small children, to sit them down on the counter, once they’re dressed, and towel dry their hair.

During the hair drying procedure, their face is covered by the towel, and they can’t really see what’s going on around them. That being the case, I thought it would be quite funny if I placed the towel on my son’s (or daughter’s) head and began drying. Then while drying, my wife sneaks in the bathroom and secretly places her hands on the towel as I remove mine. She continues drying while I sneak out of the bathroom.

Of course, the magic effect for my son or daughter would be that daddy magically changed into mommy. The only reason I haven’t tried this is because I thought of it after my children were in the I’m-too-cool-to-have-my-dad-dry-my-hair phase. However, we now have a one year old who will be ready for this moment of parent swapping in a few more years – this is the whole reason we had another child. 8)

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. For the next 30 days, I want you to see what magic looks like on a child’s face.

I tell you all this because I want you to remember what it feels like to feel magic or at the very least, see someone else feel it. Be the parent standing there after the switch when you remove the towel. I guarantee the look will be priceless. Film it. It’ll be a reminder of what magic feels like.

If you don’t have kids, that’s ok, rather than the old towel-head switcharoo, practice your sponge magic on your friend’s kids or your nieces/nephews. Just do the part where you put one(?) ball in their hand, but when they open it, 20 (no joke) balls appear.

Just do that to a bunch of different kids you know and watch their face light up. Then never, ever forget that look on their face. That look represents a feeling that you are trying to harness and share with everyone you ever perform for.

Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.