Pick a card, any card.....

Jean 1 here:
I so often, these days, feel like I am supposed to be a magician with my kids, house and life. I should be able to pull dinner out of a hat, make laundry disappear and change my body into a beautiful slender 5'6" model. But, alas, I am not a magician...I am a mom. A happy mom, but a normal mom. I HAVE cooked dinner every night this week (that is kind of like magic) and I am keeping up with the laundry, and I AM TRYING to transform into a more "slender-like" mom, although the growing two inches isn't bound to happen soon.
Today, I was greeted with a magical moment that made everything else seem more magical...It was two-fold. I decided that I was going to call Jean 3 to see how things were going (last I had heard they were headed back this way) so when I reached for my cell phone I noticed that I had just missed a call from her. Upon calling her back I learned that she was right up the road, so I (nearly) yelled...well, get your butt (excuse my foul mouth) over here! AND SHE DID! Now, that's not a earth moving, sky shattering thing to most people, but to us Jeans, it's pretty darned (again with the mouth, I am SO sorry!) wonderful...since Jean 3 has not really been home in over a year other than a few days here and there. We had a nice visit, looked over our pictures from our trip to visit her in May, went to a fancy little diner (you may have heard of it, McDonald's) and then over to a scrapbook store for a little while.
The second magical thing that happened today is more along the "sweet" moments. Jean 3 and I were talking (shocker...I know....but stick with me) and I looked over at her little girl Rose and my little girl Christi and I was awed with the very mercy of God in those two little faces. They were playing with little strawberry shortcake dolls and just talking away (don't where they got that from) and I was transported to our own past. You see, Jean 3 and I were nearly cousins (long story made short, her mom and my uncle...long time...not anymore...yada yada yada) and we spent a lot of time together as children. Ours are much younger than when we met, but they seem to have the same sort of bond, kind of a "pick up where we left off" kind of thing going on. It took them a little while (my daughter was the winner of the crankiest three year old award this morning) but once they each had chicken nuggets and some crack (OK...happy meal toy, but hey, same diff) they were talking and playing and acting like lifetime friends. And that's how Jean 3 has always been for me (Jean 1) and Jean 2. So that, my friends, is better than pulling a three foot scarf out of a sleeve, or a rabbit out of my hat....and so much more fulfilling.