All Things Great and Small - He's a Magic Man

I am back from vacation.  Actually, we returned two weeks ago, but I have been tackling the overwhelming pile of dust and grime that was my entire household.  See, we had our kitchen redone while away, and foolish me thought everything would be fine in the two other floors of my home.  Zowie, was I ever wrong!

The family vacation was fab-u-lous!  I spent quality time this occasion with my parents and sisters, and my daughter got to catch up with her cousins that she loves so much.  Most vacations have a very sad ending, because a) I'm leaving my family and b) because there is such a long car ride home that my buzumpus starts to hurt just thinking about it.  And although leaving my family is never easy, this time I got to look forward to quite a bit on the way home.

The first bright spot of the ride was a visit to Ann Arbor.  Now, many, many moons ago, while I still lived in Michigan, I was accepted into the University of Michigan's honor's program, and it is one of my life's biggest regrets that I didn't attend this institution.  I received more scholarships from a school in Kalamazoo, which is an actual place, and as shitty as you probably picture it, which was good for a young girl who paid for school completely on her own.  Yes, the house I lived in on campus was precariously close to being condemned, and, yes, I survived on Ramen noodles and Mac n' Cheese for far, far too long (although I always had plenty of beer on hand, if memory serves correctly).  Anyhoo, after graduation, if I had planned on staying in Michigan, I would have needed to move to Ann Arbor.  It is a collegiate town populated with urbane types that can converse about something other than how the Bible supports every selfish and ungracious position held by extreme right-wingers.  Whew, I guess I didn't like Michigan, huh?

Fairies don't have neon technology, duh!

One of the amazing things that I learned about Ann Arbor since I've left is the appearance of fairy doors.  I wanted to see these doors the last two trips that we made to the midwest, and my opportunity came this time.  I was armed with a list of possible locations, and a hard-won promise to spend "at least three hours" searching for them.  Husbands, it seems, feel that fairy doors come clearly labeled and are out in the open, when any fairy fanatic worth her pixie dust will tell you they are secretive, and difficult to find.

At our first stop, I noticed a man crouched down and collecting things from a low place.  Later, after we discovered our first fairy door just where this man was moments earlier, I observed this same person photographing my daughter and me.  And then, when we were ready to leave to continue our hunt, still reeling from our first fairy find, this mysterious gentlemen signalled for us to approach.  Well, imagine my surprise when he turned out to be none other than Jonathan b. Wright, famed and certifiable fairyologist, possessor of the Great Seal of Oberon and the Lesser Seal of Puck!  For me, it was like meeting Santa Claus.  A creative, fun, youthful spirit that made me really, really regret not attending U of M.  A revelatory exchange occurred during our brief encounter:



Our former fairy door that disappeared as
mysteriously as it appeared

Me to Jonathan: We had a fairy door, but it disappeared.
Husband Interruptus: What door?
Me to Husband: The one that was on our tree.
Husband Interruptus: The one that you built?
Jonathan: The one that the fairies built.

He had me at hello.  Some people believe in magic (me), some people create it (Jonathan), and others quash it (I'll let you determine of whom I speak).