My Magic Driveway…
Okay so I know I’m a weirdo but it’s totally true, my
driveway is magic and this story probably reveals more of my insanity than I
should actually be sharing.
Where to begin?
When I was like 27 or so, I was watching an episode of Oprah
(because all good stories begin with and episode of Oprah, right?) It was about
finances and how all of your financial views could be traced back to your very
first memories of money as a child. (uh oh is right!!) It was about teaching our kids now how to
handle and be responsible financially. I started to think back about my first
memories, not having kids of my own yet to screw up, I wanted to see what damage my parents had done to me. I was blown away. My very first memories of money were that of my
magic driveway.
We lived in a small house in a neighborhoody neighborhood.
We had a white fence and our tiny house was sunny and yellow. Our driveway
started out as gravel and sand and then was paved as it sloped closer to the
garage. When my dad would get home from work, he’d empty his pockets of change
in the gravel and leave behind pennies and nickels for me to find later. I
thought it was magic. I’d go out later and I’d plunder hordes of treasure
thinking I’d be the richest kid in the vicinity. It was fun to me. I was five or six at the
time and my world, and my driveway were great happy places.
I can see however, where this woman on Oprah was going and
how accurate her suggestions actually were. I had made it to my late 20’s at
that time, and deep in me I still looked for the magic money. I opened every
envelope hoping to find a large check, I checked my mailbox with secret
anticipation, I always looked for change on the ground, and I never missed a
chance to by a raffle or lotto ticket, knowing I’d be a winner. Saving,
scrimping, and budgeting be damned because, “Hey! Money comes to me by magic!”
After the episode I did some major re-hauling of my life and bank account. Because damn it, if it’s on Oprah well, you betta recognize! Major changes were wrestled
through. Life got better, it actually did and I grew up! I did.
But my driveway is still magic. I can not explain this
phenomenon. Now much older (yes.. I am old-er) the driveway of my current home
still manages to produce some very interesting treasure. We have a tiny house
to in a similar less neighboorhoody neighborhood as the one I grew up in (in an
entirely different part of town.) Every day is a surprise. What will it bring
now? I decided I had to write about it some months back when it produced a rather
large and fluffy white rabbit. I put it off thinking I was being silly but three
rather weird and challenging gifts later, my driveway will no longer be
ignored. It must have its story told.
Months back my husband pulled into the back of the drive at
the same time I pulled into the front. The kids were so happy he was home, they
jumped form the car. He came around front with an astonished look on his face
asking if I’d just seen that giant white rabbit. Alice is that you? I laughed
and said WHAT? He then swore that he’d just seen a huge, all white with pink
eyes, bunny jump under our third car. I did not believe him until the fuzzy
nose poked out from behind a tire. The kids then spent the better part of the
next week plotting ways to catch it and inventing new rabbit traps. Eventually
the poor thing wore down and surrendered. He lived with us for weeks before he
became the class pet and eventually found a more permanent living arrangement.
But I could not shake how funny it was to find a big ole pink eyed bunny in my
driveway. It’s not like we live in the country! Obviously someone’s escaped pet
he’d found us and thus his new saviors through the magic driveway portal. Next came the same sized brown bunny. Nope,
not even kidding- not one little bit. He proved much more difficult to catch.
Jude spent weeks. One ENTIRE Saturday was whittled away in contraptions. That
bunny was just too fast. But again, the cold weather and the lack of greenery
must have worn down the little guy. Jude finally captured him with a few
carrots as bait. He and his puff of a white tail found a new home with our neighbors grandkids.
So you’d think the drive would be satisfied. But alas we
have now been gifted a pretty fluffy crème colored pooch. She showed up there
just two days ago. I was beginning to feel a bit like my Grandma Jerry who had
an entire circus of stray animals who called hers home. People would drive to
the end of her country road and dump off puppies or cats and they’d find their
way back up to her house. She always loved and fed them. That house was becoming my
house. All except I live smack in the inner city and this circus was popping (and pooping) up
in my driveway! The crème colored beauty is still here. She has decided my dog
is her bestie and we will probably either keep her or find her a home. (Man
this is becoming a full time gig.) Crash (my dog) even has relinquished
ownership of his dog house to her. He was found sitting outside of it when it
began to rain a night ago and we went to bring him inside. He was just sitting
there letting her stay warm and dry. He’s sweet like Jude. They are spirit
animals I swear.
But that brings me to last nights treasure! It’s a weird one…
I mean what are the odds…
I have to jump back just a bit on this one too. When Ricky
and I started to date, we discovered that as kids we had a mutual hobby. We
created skits and shows with our cousins for our families. (OMG he is going to kill me for this) One of his was to
the song Xanadu! So was mine! I loved that movie! I loved that movie, I loved that song and man did
I want to be Olivia Newton John. The skirt, the leg warmers! Oh I wanted to be
her! Raci Buchman and I for hours in my basement singing and dancing and even roller skating around! So being the joker I am, I’d call Rick way back in the beginning of our time together, and leave a recording of
myself singing Xanadu! …. Now we are here in Xanadu-ooooo.. Xanadu your neon
light will shine…. for you Xanadu..
The love, the echoes of long ago
You needed the world to know, they are in Xanadu
Aheeemmmmm.. sorry I got carried away in song there for a
moment. I still leave him that message now and then.
He comes in the house last night and he’s all freaked out,
calls me and asks if I’ve been home. He thinks someone may have broken in. He
checks all the windows and as I am coming up the porch stairs, just getting home, he opens the
front door and asks me if I still have my old Xanadu record.
(DUHHH.. of course I do.)
He wants me to go get it. And because I’m a freak I can and
do in like under 5 seconds. Here she is… complete with lyrics… ahhhh.
He is puzzled.
Why I ask? Then he tells me that there is the same Xanadu
record in the driveway. I am absolutely not kidding- not even one bit. Here is picture proof.
And now you see that my driveway is magic, that I could
ignore this no longer, and that the world must obviously know of its great
powers.
So sometimes the first perceptions you form at 5 or 6 are
absolutely correct. Sometimes there is magic in life even if it’s totally weird
and pointless magic. And sometimes, nay- all the time Xanadu is a great thing
to find in your driveway! (seriously what ARE the odds?)
