Magic Moments

There’s something magical about firsts. My husband and I were talking about this as we enjoyed our second visit to our glorious gem of a secluded beach on the north shore of Maui. It was still beautiful but not quite as amazing as the day before.

Is it the surprise element to a first that makes it so special? That you stumbled upon something unexpected? That we are somehow wired for novelty, so that the repeat just makes it a tiny bit less shiny?

Think about a first kiss. Nothing like it! I love kissing Ken, have loved kissing him for over thirty years, but our everyday kisses are not first kisses. (Don’t worry…he knows and agrees…we talked about this as we floated in our personal tide pool, which was awesome but just a little less awesome today).

Of course, some things are magical just because they are, and it has nothing to do with being a first. When we stumbled upon this stretch of sand yesterday, the weather was perfect. A few puffy clouds in the sky, a light breeze, about eighty-five degrees.

Today was cloudy. The surf a bit rougher, so I couldn’t float without being occasionally threatened with bumping into a rock. Had to pay more attention today. We’d both had a bit too much sun, so couldn’t stay out there as long. Still amazing. Definitely no complaints. But not quite as good.

Which brings me to wondering if it’s possible to recreate magic.

Or maybe I’d be better off wondering why I try so hard to do so. Yesterday was magical. Today was wonderful but different. And that’s okay. I’ll take wonderful. Wonderful is wonderful.

It’s just that I constantly compare it to the magic, which just isn’t fair of me to do to myself. When lightning strikes and the magic happens, I want to simply feel the joy and not automatically think about whether I can recreate it tomorrow. Because the yearning along with the joy diminishes the joy.

Thankfully, that didn’t happen yesterday. Yesterday was joyful. And today was too.

Kind of like kissing Ken. Not magic every time, but still makes me happy and grateful.