Saturday, September 26, 2009

Let me tell you a little something about... "The Magic"

Until the age of 32 I had never been anywhere that couldn't be reached via car in 8 hours or less. I had been on mini trips to Montreal, Quebec City (the old city, which is breathtaking), Toronto, and Niagara Falls. In high school I spent March Break in Stroudsberg, PA with my best friend visiting his family, and Mr. B and I visited friends outside of Scranton quite a few years ago. Although I realize that some people live, grow, and die quite happily without ever wandering beyond the county borders they were born inside, but for someone with itchy feet those little excursions were just never enough. It always somewhat irritated me that my grandmother had been to Disneyland more times than I can remember but I had never gone further than the Poconos.

One cold January, that all changed.

My first real vacation and first flight was to Oahu. Beautiful Hawaii, thirteen flight hours away from home. *pause for a moment of peaceful bliss* Okay, I'm back. I can't tell you how absolutely amazing that trip was. There are hardly words. There was so much more to experience than I had ever thought possible and I left the island wanting more. I left knowing there was so much more that I "needed" to see and do. I shall go back someday.

But... this post is not to lament about the beautiful scenery, people, music, food, and atmosphere, no, it is to teach you about magic. I was introduced to Paradise by my darling Mr. B's parents. They have been there so often that a parade is held the morning after their arrival. (Remember that, it will be important for later.) Anyway, despite my limited means and lack of stamps in my passport they somehow knew that I would "get it". The magic, that is. They told me about how travel can change a person if they're truly open to the whole experience of it. I'm not talking about the experience of laying in a beach chair sipping cocktails on a resort for a week, not that there's anything wrong with that - those types of vacations certainly have their benefits, what I'm referring to is totally emerging yourself in the culture, the atmosphere, and the adventure that can be found and how it changes how you look at life afterwards. I'm sorry Jiminey Cricket but it's NOT a small world after all. I've seen very little of it so far and I can honestly say that it's pretty darn huge!

You might be saying, "Well, that's nice but you still didn't explain what magic means." Well, it's that little something extra that happens, if you're open to it, that just seems to happen especially for you. For example, the morning after our arrival in Hawaii we were sitting having our breakfast in a glass front restaurant overlooking Waikiki Beach (could it be more perfect?) and out of what seemed to be no where, a parade started. Of course it wasn't to celebrate our arrival but we had researched the events happening while we would be there and we didn't recall reading that there would be a parade. It was such a pleasant surprise that we decided it was indeed just for us. That's one example.

I have a few more that I could tell you about but this most recent one is really worth the use of characters. To set the scene I must tell you that I have wanted to visit NYC since I was 13 years old... maybe younger. I should also tell you that although I had never been there, in my heart I simply knew that I would love Central Park. It's also important to understand that for many years I have loved jazz music more than any girl of my limited years probably should.

So... all that being said... here's what I found in Central Park on my very first day in New York City:

This, my friends, is "the magic".

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