The Magical Moment And The Opening Of The Treasure Door

My mother had six siblings, two sisters and four brothers. Her one sister Ruth and her one brother George were born blind. That did not stop my grandmother, from having another child and his name was Louis. The two blind children went to the Maryland School for the Blind and then on to regular high schools where they excelled. They were one of the first handicapped children to go to a sighted school as it was called.

They both had wonderful jobs and married spouses who had their sight. My aunt Ruth learned to cook, keep a clean home and she was a fantastic knitter. She knitted all her dresses and many coats and they were of different yarn colors and were full of intricate knitting patterns. People who met her could not believe that a sightless lady could knit like that. George was a medical secretary for the well-known doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The respected doctors always requested that George do their transcription.

These two relatives of mine did not let their disabilities take away from their lives. They did volunteer work for organizations and were loved by their relatives and friends and their spouses. My brother and I adored Uncle George and we saw him often since he lived in Baltimore. Aunt Ruth lived in New York City where she went to the Broadway plays every month. She sat there enjoying the dialogue and loved to go to the theater. She saw Richard Burton live in a Broadway play and wrote him a note how she adored him and could not see him. He wrote her back, how proud he was, she appreciated the play even though she could not see the actors.

Many seniors who go dancing cannot dance the way they did when perhaps they were younger. Some still go and sit there and maybe dance once or twice during the afternoon or evening. They still enjoy being there and socializing and getting out is a big thing in their day. One lady I know could not dance at all because of some orthopedic problems. She would come with her husband and he would dance with some other ladies and she sat there smiling and happy just to be in that environment.

An acquaintance of mine used to get up every morning and make a list of the doctors she was going to that day. One day it would be the podiatrist (that was ok because she did do some ballroom dancing and needed her feet to be in good shape.) The next day it was the dermatologist because she had a .sore on her back. The next day it would be the internist because she had some aches and pains. The next day it was the orthopedic doctor because her knees hurt. She made the rounds of all the doctors and even went to her gastroenterologist because she had stomach pains. 

She got to know the secretaries at these doctor's offices very well and made sure she kept in good speaking friendships with them, so she could call and insert herself into an appointment when she wanted it. One day, she woke up and said to herself, no doctors today. Today, I will go and do some ballroom dancing. I will take a lesson, I will look at a pair of new ballroom dance shoes, and I will practice with my husband in the family room. I will not go to a doctor this week.

That was quite a new method of living for her. No doctors, no secretaries, no driving to the various offices. The only driving she did that week was for her dancing activities. She got excellent exercise; her mind did not think about illness and you KNOW WHAT? She felt good physically all that week. She decided she would frequent the doctor offices only when and if she really needed it. She would not go there to be reassured that everything was ok when in her heart she knew it was fine.

Ballroom dancing is like a good drug. It stimulates your mind; it exercises your feet, arms and neck. It enhances your good thoughts and it raises your esteem in your own mind. You are not sick, you need no doctors today, and you can and are surviving at this senior passage of time. Ballroom dancing is a stimulant that is good for your soul and keeps your mind active. Even if you go and sometimes sit out some or all dances, just going takes good courage. You are special and you do not need a medical person to tell you that everything is FINE. You know yourself that you are a good person and if you are feeling well enough to go out and dance or do dance activities, you are a golden senior, not a senile senior. That is the best gift you can give to yourself.

I heard the following phrase on a show today. It is: there is something called magical thinking. The meaning was about something else than what I would perceive it to be. I would dwell on the fact that it is magic to think about something different happening to us someday soon. Seniors think often about getting sick and having to depend on someone else to help or assist them in normal daily duties. They may worry about becoming incapacitated by illness. This is a normal feeling, but we should dwell on the great things that are in our life right now. The future is fine to think about when you are young and starting out and even into middle age. However, I feel that the future is now and we should live in the now and accomplish everything we desire. We hold our destiny in our own hands and let us reach out with our hands and mind and so something now we could be contemplating as seniors or not yet seniors.

Magical thinking is in my mind taking the magic of focusing on the future and making the future happen right this week. I have mentioned in previous articles that my dad always said today is good, tomorrow will be better and the future will be fantastic. He did not live to the future because he passed away when he was only seventy-two and six days. The other night at 7 P.M. on December 2nd , I became the surviving member of our little family of four to live past seventy-seven. Mom was that age plus 5 months and eleven days when she died. On December 2nd, I surpassed her then age. 

I often thought about that as I became seventy-seven this year of 2011 and it was my wish, of course, to do that. So that was a form of magical thinking that I had since I turned that age in June 2011. A simple wish of continuing on. Yesterday, I treated myself to a gift from Macy's in honor of the 'event.' A friend of mine said his wife's parents lived to be only fifty-one and fifty-eight and as she approached fifty-eight this year, she felt the same way. Of course, her folks died younger than mine and her magical thinking was at an earlier age than mine. All the same, magical thinking can endure in other things we do or wish for. Instead of putting off a trip you wish for, if you can afford it, do it now. If you want to buy a car and can afford it, do it now. If you want to take up a hobby like dancing, sewing, swimming, golf, tennis, seeing theater shows or even knitting, do it now. Do not wait for the future; let the magical moment be present immediately.

The magical moment is important to us and the way to make magic work is to believe that it is not really magic and beyond us; but to realize, we can attain it, by doing more than wishing for it to happen.

Shakespeare said in Sonnet fifty-two: "So am I as the rich whose blessed key can bring him/her to his sweet up-locked treasure." We can interpret that to mean in our daily life, that we should take the key and open up the treasure locked away called the future and make it a soon to be reality for our pleasure, our joy and our magical anticipation of a delightful happening. My blind uncle and aunt could not see with their eyes, but they could see beyond eye sight into a good life in spite of their lacking vision. They both had an inner vision, a magical thinking that led them to productive and happy lives. We all who can see with our eyes can emulate their thoughts with our eyes wide open to this world we occupy and we can be rich and use the blessed key to open up the locked treasure of our life right now.