Magic Shoes

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to dive into my mother's closet. She had all these great clothes from the 70s, and it was like walking into an enchanted land whenever I ventured into her closet.

Most of her clothes were long flowery dresses, and she had these amazing shoes! My favorite pair were flashy silver sandals with a high heel. When I put my little feet into them, I felt like a combination of Cinderella and a Greek goddess. They were simply Magic Shoes!

When I hit high school, surfer shorts and high-top sneakers were more my style until senior year when I was cast as Dorothy in The Wiz. Then I became known as the "white girl with soul."

As meticulously as I listened to Stephanie Mills' riffs, I also took charge of Dorothy's magic slippers, which were interestingly enough, silver, as per L. Frank Baum's book. I spent many hours reapplying glitter after a show, so those shoes could sparkle for the next time I eased on down the road. :)

Fast forward to my birthday last month. My mom always sends me something fun from CA, and this year she sent me some shiny silvery sandals. I immediately cried, "My magic shoes!"

I wore them to an audition last week and couldn't help but feel sparkly and effervescent. :)

(Me and Mom above - here I'm wearing some fun platform shoes).

The whole thing has made me think about what makes us feel magical.

In Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, Harry tricks Ron into thinking he's taken some luck potion, and so Ron thinks he's lucky and can't lose the big Quidditch match, which he wins successfully.

Or even back to The Wizard of Oz... Glinda tells Dorothy she had the power all along to get where she wanted to go!

I feel like these magical components - magic shoes or luck potion - are simply the magical, lucky parts of ourselves. We need to embrace that every day, nurture that every day! And enjoy the ride! :)