When I was 11 years old, I requested a Magic Kit from my parents for my Birthday, inspired by my first crush, David Copperfield, who was the man of my dreams. I don't think I could have imagined what life with a real life magician would have been like.
I polished my magic top hat with mayonnaise which seemed like a good idea at the time. I watched every magic special. Later one of my brothers would fall in love with magic, and between my dad doing his card tricks and my brother, it seemed magic was a thread of our every day lives. Even still, I don't think I really had a notion of what Life with a Magician would truly be like.
I say this knowing that my life with a magician is very specific to our life, as I am well aware of the Penn & Teller variety - their version of trickery thus proving that all Magic (or anything requiring Belief) is trickery. Life is not like that in our household. And I will tell you right off the bat, just in case you ask, I don't know how a single "trick", "illusion", or "effect" is done. I asked Mr Bird very early on to never reveal his secrets ... I wanted to enjoy and marvel at Magic just like anyone else. And he kindly obliged (well, he gritted his teeth a bit, as it means hiding things a bit more in our house than he otherwise might).
Just so you know, life with this magician does involve many a deck of card around the house - countless on the nightstand, on the coffee table, in the closet, on the kitchen counter. Name an area of the house and I'm sure there's a deck of playing cards. This is true of Magicians. Playing cards are everywhere.
I've also injured myself, while dusting the house, on razor blades he had on his bedside table, pricked myself with a needle which was hidden under a book, and slipped on his many silks. Magicians really do live and breathe their art. It's not kept in a warehouse or sequestered to a particular area of the house, their "art" is everywhere, just as you would find with any other Artist.
Perhaps the one difference I notice with my Magician, and perhaps a misconception with people, is that Magic has somehow rendered all magicians as particularly lacking in awe and wonder themselves. This is not the life I live.
Mr Bird's love of magic is deeply rooted in history, folklore, myth, legend, and possibility. If anything, the magic he creates is meant to ignite a fire in your own heart and mind. He truly wants you to believe in infinite possibilities, to marvel, and to regain your childlike sense of belief.
That is my love's Magic. If he's not pushing you towards a greater sense of Hope, then his Art is somewhat failing.
Life with a Magician does involve trap doors, and lion cages, and deck of cards, and often wounding myseld on one of his effects...
But Life with this Magician is about Belief, and Hope, and Dreams too.
I can't begin to express how his art has created renewed innocent wonder in my own mindset.
His magic really could make such a difference in this world.
XO,
