The Gift of the Get

Molly sat, struggling to show any excitement as she opened box after box of what appeared to be birthday gifts, but in reality each one was a, not so subtle, reminder that she was not the daughter her mother hoped she would be.

Gifts have a way of revealing how others see us, feel about us, or, in the case of Molly’s mom, who they wish us to be. She wanted a daughter that was outgoing, popular and always dressed in the trendiest of high school fashion.

That wasn’t Molly now and no matter how many JCrew, Lily or LuluLemon outfits her mother bought her, much to her mother's chagrin, it wasn’t going to be her.

Molly's grandmother always said that unlike her other siblings who stormed into the world, loud and fierce, on the night Molly was born, she slipped so quietly into the world as to not startle a fly.

Perhaps it was a knowing that her best chance of survival in this chaotic, turbulent family was to take up as little emotional and physical space as possible.

For the most part it has worked, that is until something like a birthday popped up, allowing the focus temporarily to shift to “project fix Molly”. However, Molly knew that come morning she could blend back into her quiet space, as she would blend back into the hidden corners of her mother's day to day thoughts. That worked very well for her.

As the last of the cake was eaten and Molly gathered her gifts, she found one she had missed. Wrapped in grey tissue paper, tied with a thin white satin bow, Molly knew it was from her grandmother. Discreetly hiding it between the open boxes because she knew it was best opened alone, as no doubt it was a book. And no doubt like all the previous books her grandmother had given her, one that would truly delight her and she would want to delve straight into.

Stashing the pile of gift boxes in the corner of her room, Molly picked up the present from her grandmother and was surprised and confused finding an envelope marked “Read this first” under the ribbon, one that she knew wasn’t there when she found the gift downstairs.

Opening the letter she began to read:

Dearest Molly,

My gift to you this year is yes, another book, but this book my darling, is unlike any other book.

Much like you, to the common eye this small black book will appear understated and unassuming, but one look inside reveals its wisdom, depth and beauty.

Although you display a calm, detached front to the world, I know that recently there has been a storm brewing inside of you. A feeling there is part of you that you don’t recognize or understand trying to break out.

I know because I too felt the fear of an awakening of something strong and powerful inside myself at about your age, as did my grandmother and I suspect her grandmother and the generations of second born granddaughters before us.

You see Molly, you and I come from a long line Enchanter’s, we have been called many things over the years, typically “witches” but I never liked that term so I choose to call myself an Enchanter, you may choose as you wish.

Although there were pages left to read, Molly dropped the letter and grabbed the phone. Before she could hit call, it rang. It was her grandmother of course.

“I’m sure you have questions,” said the cheerful voice.

Rattled, Molly responded “Questions Grandma, really?”. Taking a breath, Molly’s tone calmed “You know I’m sitting here thinking that if anyone else in the whole word were to tell me this I would just laugh, but it's you, so I know it’s real, actually I think I’ve always known, maybe not the details, but that there was something special about you and I”

“First", interrupted her grandmother, “Every human being is special and each person has their own gifts, this is just ours and yes, while it tends to be far less ordinary, it makes us no greater or more important than anyone else. It also come with great responsibility”

“Sorry, Grandma, that’s not what I meant, I guess I meant different and different in a really different way”

“That we are child. I am going to hang up and I want you to finish reading my letter, then you can unwrap the book and after what I’m sure will be a sleepless night. I will pick you up for breakfast and answer all your questions. Happy Birthday darling, I love you.”

“Love you too!”

Molly continued to read:

As an Enchanter we have what is called “The Gift of the Get”, the ability to get what we want, using the power of our minds.

Although we are not the only ones to have this gift, actually all humans have it, but we have lightning speed control of it. What might take others years to achieve we can do in moments.

It is the power of our minds. The human mind is the most powerful thing on earth and learning to harness that power is learning to control our thoughts as our thoughts create our reality.

The book through it’s collection of stories, stories going back centuries, from a steady line of second granddaughters. Each telling their story, sharing what they have learned, guiding, supporting you on your journey. There has yet to be a question asked that the answer wasn’t found among the pages. The book will guide you, trust what you find.

I’m sure right now you are looking at the small parcel smaller than your new ipad mini and thinking that must not be the book I am talking about. It is.

As I said, what it appears to be and what is, differs greatly.

In a moment I will have you open it...but not quite yet, there is a bit more to tell.

About the book itself:

-You never need to worry about the book being lost to you, once you open it you will see your name appear, in that moment the book will be bonded to you. If for any reason it is separated from you, trust it will find its way back to you.

-Don’t worry about hiding from others. Only those whose names appear in the book will see the true form of the book. To everyone else it will appear that small, black, elegant moleskin notebook with blank pages.

A couple lessons from a young girl that grew to be your most loving grandmother.

I hadn’t had the book but a few months and while I wanted to test what I was learning I was being very cautious and my grandmother who (luckly) lived with us, kept telling me I would know when I was ready.

That night came.

My mother was often unhappy, although we lived in a very nice house that looked out over the water. From my vantage point it appeared that we had everything we needed, perhaps even more than most of my friends. But, my mother was always talking about things she wanted and bemoaning what we had or didn’t have.

One night she was going on about the state of our house and that it was making her miserable. She couldn’t stop talking about her friend Mitzi’s redecorated home and how pretty it is. She believed if our house was redone that would give her the boost she needed to finally be happy.

Well, I thought, this is it, what would be more important than making my mother happy.

So having no real concept of the worth of big money, like how much cars or houses cost, I thought $20,000 seemed like a good amount for her to redecorate the house.

So all by myself, I closed my eyes, concentrating on twenty thousand dollars to redecorate the house, and did what I had learned in my months of training. You will never guess what I saw when I opened my eyes. It worked! I got exactly what I asked for.

My entire room (and I was sure the whole house as well by the way my grandmother that typically didn’t move too quickly flew into my room) was covered in one dollar bills. Yes, like wallpaper on the walls.

As I said, luckily my grandmother lived with us so she could return everything back to its original state before anyone learned of my gift or my big blunder.

Lesson #1 I learned that night.

In a manner so patient, my grandmother explained that the most challenging part of our gift was to learn to dig deep to uncover what it was we wanted to “get”, to achieve.

That starts with asking “why-why did I want it?” Then again why did I want that? Repeating this process over and over until I was at the root of what I truly wanted.

I did not want to decorate with 20,000 one dollar bills, what I thought I wanted was to surprise my mother with $20,000 (istead I surprised my grandmother), but really what I wanted was to make my mother happy.

Lesson #2

You might be able to make someone happy in the moment, but true, sustainable happiness can only come from within. Redecorating, a trip or a new car might have made my mother happy for a fleeting moment, but they were only momentary reprieves to her inner angst.

You most likely will find yourself in similar situations with people you deeply care about that are struggling and you will want to use your power to help. Help if you want, but do so knowing that while you can change circumstances you can not, no matter how powerful you become, change someone's core mental state.

Well, I’m sure you can’t wait to open the book, and allow that part of you that has been kicking up trouble inside of you, out!

Your amazing journey begins tonight, I think I’m as excited as you!

So, go ahead, put down this letter and open your book.

I’ll pick you up at 10:00 in the morning for breakfast!

Love you so dear Molly!

Grandma

Xo

Whether out of respect or sentiment, Molly took a moment to carefully fold the letter, or perhaps it was an excuse for a needed pause. As curious and excited as she was, she also knew that once she opened the book there would be no turning back. Not that she feared any future regret in opening the book, it wasn’t that. It was knowing she would never be quite the same, not better or worse, just different.

Okay, moment acknowledged! With that Molly untied to white satin ribbon and loosened the grey tissue paper. The moment her hand touched the soft black moleskin the book grew exponentially in size, over six inches thick and about the size of her laptop. As remarkable as the instant growth was, the book itself took her breath away, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

The cover was made of abalone shell with inlaid malachite in the shape of a tree that glistened with multicolored gems for the leaves and flowers. Molly just knew one of those jems represented her and one her grandmother.

With a deep breath, she opened the book and watched as letter by letter in a thick black script her name appeared.

Yes, in that moment, she felt the shift, she was an Enchanter and with it came a stillness, an inner calm, the storm had passed.

She didn’t know where this journey would take her, but she did know that, unlike her kind hearted grandmother, it wasn't going to begin with her redecorating for her mother. Her mother didn’t want to redecorate the house, she wanted to redecorate Molly with those new clothes...and that so wasn’t going to happen!