Sunday

Call it magic.

A sunny Sunday afternoon in early March. Sixty degree temperatures. Blondies cooling on the countertop. Apple and Munster cheese slices on a plate on the mangowood table, and some dried salami that tastes nothing like an Italian sausage off the grill. Water and Diet Coke with half a lemon juiced in, aranciata, ginger ale in a glass bottle.

I wore a black and white striped dress to church with red heels and drop (fake) diamond earrings. When I got home I put on mint green jeans and a white tee because it's spring now and I'm not cold anymore. My pants are all too big for me because I've had an "overgrowth of bacteria present in [my] small intestine" since I got food poisoning in November. Now I'm on the most expensive antibiotic in the world. It must have flecks of real gold in it.

The part about the pants and bacterial overgrowth and antibiotics isn't magic. It's science. And too much information.

But that Sunday afternoon was magic.

It's magic when three hours of sarcasm and conversation can change what you think and how you feel. And when hearing your almost-two-year-old niece sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and your three-year-old nephew (sort of) count to 100 and clearly enunciate all of his Ts over Facetime makes you think that maybe you've been wrong all this time, maybe you could want kids someday.

When someone standing in a backyard in Utah concurs that the New York City skyline is better than the mountains to the East. And that person is not your cousin Elysa. It's magic when someone peels potatoes for you; when you have a good time cooking them because you have witty company in the kitchen; when someone looks at you in amazement because the first thing you said when you came out of that coma was "Dad I forgot to make my car payment."

Magic is when you're disappointed in the Oscars because that song you disdain that everyone else loves and refuses to get over won, and you still go to bed contented. Ellen did a fabulous job hosting the show. Who doesn't want to see famous people in expensive clothes try to eat a slice of pizza gracefully? And did you see Cate Blanchett's dress?? Or P!nk singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Now that was magic.

When one day, one conversation, one hesitation can call into question a decision... if it's worth it for only a few months... a comment about Carnegie Deli and an opinion about Rhode Island... a phone manufactured at Alcatraz?... a passing fancy turns to concrete interest....

Call it magic.