She was an explorer with a thirst for knowledge and adventure, mostly if it was unique and off the beaten path. She’d be off to a specific ashram for months after hearing about it and taking three or more days to get there via plane, train, boat, bus, rickshaw, whatever. And she always had stories about the people she’d meet on her adventures.
I have a thick stack of post cards from her in my storage unit. I looked so forward to getting those in the mail. With cool pictures on the front, interesting stamps.
She’d catch wind of a church (sometimes a cult) and follow them for a while to, as she would say, “see what they were about; see what knowledge I can glean”.
She took a job once with a group of paranormal truth hunters as their personal assistant and went on the road with them to research hauntings, so-called miracles, and other oddities. She said she wanted to know what was out there. Were alien abduction accounts actually legit? Why did some homes have ghosts, and could they be appeased so they’d go off and be in peace or did they actually prefer to stay in their haunts? She believed in magic, all of it. Good magic and dark magic.
Too bad magic couldn’t save her from the cancer.
Believe in possibilities, Dear Amie. I believe the world we are on can give us so much. Yes, it can sustain us, can provide our basic needs. But it can also accommodate all of our hopes, dreams, and candle-blown wishes on top of that. Magic? It’s there. It’s here. It’s everywhere if we look for it. You won’t see it if you don’t look, not unless magic wants you to.
Yeah, magic wanted me to, didn’t it?
She believed in an afterlife. She told me not to be sad when she was gone, that she was just off on her next adventure.
A seed seems like it dies before it transforms into something bigger, something beyond that seed’s wildest imaginings, dear girl. Though the body of it might appear gone, what was inside that vessel has finally broken through. Don’t mourn me. Miss me, think of me, but don’t be sad for me. I’m just a seedling here. After I leave, I’d bet my lottery winnings I’ll become a truly majestic tree. I’d bet that, except I already spent them. I spent them on something wonderful.
A tear trails down my face. She spent them on us.
Though she was often off on a quest, when she was around, she was the best aunt in the world. I miss her so much.
She took me and my sister to an old cinema once so we could see a marathon of The NeverEnding Story movies. She quizzed us like it was a class, like we were studying for a test.
She wanted us to get the message that you can and should dream up amazing possibilities for yourself. Your future.
My sister was always so pragmatic about everything, and Auntie Nelle would indulge her and then wink at me when Ivy was looking the other way. It felt like a fun secret to have, to listen to my sister play devil’s advocate, knowing that magic existed. Ivy didn’t want to play Bed Knobs and Broomsticks with us on the four-poster cannonball bed in our sometimes guestroom, sometimes Auntie Nelle’s room. Ivy would roll her eyes and tell us it was ‘silly’. And then Auntie Nelle would say, “I guess I’m Auntie Silly Nellie then.” And Ivy would feel bad and play along. But she always played like she was humoring us and thought we were simpleminded. I wonder what my sister thought the first time she saw her suitor shift into a wolf.
Did she think she’d had her Sprite spiked?
I’m not the skeptic she is and even I felt like I was seeing things.
A beautiful, magical man that can turn into a massive wolf? Watching a majestic, massive animal turn into a man?
And there was the strength he showed when he tossed Whatshisface today!
I was legit concerned when he growled and threw Rick. Mason is built, muscular, taller than Rick but Rick has bulk. Mason isn’t a Hulk and his arms and legs aren’t as thick as Rick’s, so Rick was probably thinking he could take him. The whole thing looked superhuman when it happened. Beyond concern, I was also quite turned on. Mason wanted to protect me. And he wanted Rick gone because of the notion of … what? Rick upsetting me? Because Rick and I have history?
Oddly, I was both touched and aroused at that display. I’m not the kind of girl that garners protectiveness from men, not typically a damsel in distress. I’ve never been the girl a guy has been possessive over. I’m mouthy and don’t hesitate to stand up for myself. But it was nice to have someone want to do that for me without forgetting that I have a voice.