The Magic Of Magic And Magic Happiness Elita Sohmer Clayman

I bought myself a mother’s day present. It is an expensive Coach purse. They are known for the pricey cost of their purses and also for the quality of the workmanship on them. There are many websites that sell what is called knock-offs of them and you can be sure, they do not have the excellence and distinction of a Coach purse. I have heard they last for ten years and many times if you return it to the company, they will repair it for only the cost of the return shipping to you.

I thought it time I indulge in this purse that I have always wanted. They are not supposed to discount it, but now and then Macy’s does what they call their family and friend’s sale. I bought one about six months ago and laid it out on the bed in our spare bedroom on the nice bedspread. I let it sit there for about six weeks, not daring to even use it especially since it was wintertime. I did not want it to snow suddenly and I was using it and would have been upset if it had gotten wet. Then one day, I decided to return it and Macy’s gave me a credit on my charge card. I did not want to spend all that money for a purse.

Somehow, Coach and Macy’s have me on their email list and I have been bombarded with emails all about the new line of springtime purses. Finally, Macy’s had their twenty-five percent family and friend’s sale and online it came to thirty percent and I decided that for my coming birthday in June, I would treat Elita to a Coach purse. So I perused the ads of Macy’s and Coach and finally picked out a pretty one and went online and got it for five percent cheaper than at the store plus free shipping. I was so excited when it arrived and now it is laid out again on the bed (formerly my son’s room when he lived here) and I took off the tags and the carefully wrapped strap and still after one week have not exchanged the insides of the other purse I have been using, to put them in this new expensive addition to my life.

I was going to do this today and then they predicted rain for several days and then we will be going out of state for an afternoon one day and it is so big, I would have to put it in the back seat in order not to damage it sitting on the floor by my knees. Then I noticed that something was missing from the front, the key chain that said Coach and another chain too. I called Macy’s and they said they could not take it off another purse and send it to me, because each one has their own and then it would be missing from the next purse. They said would I be satisfied with a fifty dollar credit on my charge card and I grudgingly said yes because they did not have another new one with the keychain and the famous words of Coach.

You see if I am spending this whole lot of money for a designer purse, I want all my friends and family to really know it is a Coach, so they will be impressed with it. Ha, who really cares about the name on a purse unless you are a movie star, a television famous young actress or a snob? So I took the credit and it appeared instantly on my online version of my bill from the charge company. A few days ago, I decided to cut off the tags, finally from the purse which has been wrapped in lots of coverings and lo and behold, there were the two ‘lost’ Coach tags. I felt real guilty about calling them and getting the credit for my inconvenience as the customer service told me. So I called and happened to get the same person and told her I had found the ‘lost’ tags and she said, let it be. So I saved another fifty dollars.

In the purse when I was getting ready to put the old purse’s belongings in the new one, I found a card. It said  “Thanking you for making our day magic. We feel the magic of Macy’s every time we pack an order for a customer and we hope we’ve shared some magic with you as we prepared your order. Enjoy and thank you again for shopping with Macy’s”. What a nice card, calling a purchase magic. If every time we bought something, we could get a response like that, how delightful we would feel. I realize that it would be hard to do and this was done because it was an expensive item; but the person who thought it up should be rewarded with a thank you, it is magic, him or herself for being so creative with a thank you card.

What caught my eye was the word magic being used in this sense. Magic is really a magic word. When my children were young, I hired a magician for fifty dollars to give about sixty minutes of magic tricks to entertain the kids at the birthday party I held jointly for both of my children since their birthdays were twelve days apart. His name was Mr. Walt and I was exhilarated at his performance. Birds coming out of scarves, filled and empty glasses of water appearing from under a covering and everything that magicians do for young kids and even older people. I stood right by him and could not figure out how he did it. The kids loved it and our party was the talk of the neighborhood and I really got my fifty dollars’ worth in entertainment from the illusion of magic.

When we learned to ballroom dance way back in 1977, that first night for the initial lesson, I felt afterwards going home, that my feet were magic and my soul had been infused with great joy. You see I had always wanted to learn to ballroom dance and when I was single, I had taken a few lessons here and there and that is what they were: here and there, nothing to brag about and not a lot of really excellent teaching. As we progressed as a couple, I felt I had found the magic of dancing and even though my husband as most male partners feel, that they are there under pressure from the woman to do this; and they really do not want this thing happening in their life. Eventually, they will grudgingly admit, it is an OK happening and maybe they do ‘enjoy’ it after all. As the years roll by and they become quite excellent in dancing, they will brag to their friends that we are excellent dancers and they love to see the admiration on their friends’ faces when they hear this. The men still do not want to admit they enjoy or even love it; but they most often do.

Steven Behr and Mary Peterson just came back from Hawaii where they taught dance for almost two weeks and they wrote to me the following words about their trip:

Aloha Elita,

Mary and I have finally swept all of the sand out of our clothes and have settled into our mainland responsibilities.

The weather was a bit cool and very windy this trip but what better a place to have to suffer through that! All the arrangements and travel itineraries worked out just fine and it made for a very enjoyable visit.

Our programs and lessons were of course the heart of our connections and that said, we supported 10 senior adult neighborhood centers and 4 retirement facilities on the islands of Maui and Oahu. The beauty of this schedule is that they are all different which allows us to tailor each program to fit the location and this keeps us fresh and stimulated. The diversity of our program which incorporates tap, foxtrot, swing, waltz, tango, cha/cha, flamenco, and hula insures that at least one number will meet the interest of the audience. We try to incorporate music that has a message and is known: "It don't mean a thing if ain't got that swing", "you make me feel so young", "in the mood", "pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again".

At the end of each performance, Mary and I go out into the audience and shake/hug each person so that they feel in some way connected with us and include us in the "ohana"; family. Sometimes it is difficult to assess connection from the stage however, you always know from the smiles, eyes, handshakes, and hugs when we are face to face. We hear "you have brought back so many memories", "You are such great role models" and 'I am going to start moving again".

We are so fortunate to be still doing something that we love to do and also having such a positive impact on our audiences. It's called the "aloha spirit" and it will always be a big part of our makeup. It's the old story, not rich monetarily but rich in love!

We have been offered sponsorship once again for 2013 and so we will consider it during the rest of 2012. Oh well, let's do it!!

A hui hou! Mary and Steve

There is the word magic that can be used in reading this letter from two seniors from Washington State who accomplish this marvelous feat with their feet. They make this long trip and have so much fun and being tired too, to bring the magic of ballroom dance to the people of Hawaii. They have been doing this for about twenty-eight or so years and even at advanced senior years, they have the spirit, the goodness,, the desire to offer to the Hawaiian community their expertise, happiness and yes of course, the magic of ballroom dance. What you see on Dancing With The Stars is more of a show and not the reality of real ballroom dance. As I have said before, real people do not take dance lessons for seven hours a day, seven days a week and if they injure themself, they do not continue on until the injury is healed. They do not go shirtless for the men and the women do not wear dresses showing almost about everything they have. We wear beautiful costumes usually custom made, sexy yes, but only revealing enough to be in a sophisticated dress manner.

Real ballroom dancing is done daily, weekly, and monthly at dance studios and dance parties and dance competitions throughout the country. There are no judges telling you what you did wrong or giving out number tens or number sixes. The real judges write their remarks and ratings on a paper handwritten or maybe computerized at some competitions. They are kept and sometimes are hung up on a wall to be seen by the dancers and their coaches. The announced winners of a certain heat as the event is called are spoken and everyone hears who received first, second, third. The other ratings are on the wall where one can see it, to see how they were rated etc.

There is magic in ballroom dancing and just taking some lessons is magic number one. Then when you think you may want to compete, that is magic number two and when you compete that is magic number three and then if you do win a placing and a trophy, medal or certificate, that is pure magic and as Macy’s said “we thank the judges and our self for making that day MAGIC and we are rewarded in our mind and soul, what fun we just had.

There are all kinds of magic, the one mentioned above is delightful and anything you accomplish at this NOW age you are in is surely magic to you too. Whatever, you attain and have been inspired to do right now is super-duper magic and the meaning of magic is enchanting, bewitching and most of all charming.

Charming we will feel when we accomplish anything we have always desired either when we were young or now. They showed on the evening news of a janitor at a prestigious college who was a janitor in the evening and in the daytime for nineteen years, he took courses and is graduating this month from the college with honors and as an older man. He will continue on hoping to attain a PhD eventually and he said he will do his janitor job until he gets another one. He came from a foreign country and could not talk English and look what he achieved and realized. That is pure magic, magic of the mind, soul.

So Mary and Steve, the janitor now college graduate, anything you attain later on in life and me owning a Coach purse all can be called Magic Happiness and we all certainly should experience the moments of great magic any day we can receive it. Go out and find your Magic Happiness and be extra happy you finally found it. You deserve it.