nicorns are the hottest thing right now. Not just in my estimation, but according to The Wall Street Journal (so this is obviously legitimate). According to them, 2015 is The Year of the Unicorn. They even have a video segment about all of the unicorn toys that are coming out this year.
(Not to brag or anything, but wayyyyy back in 2014, I did a post about The Unicorn of Wonder. Am I some sort of prophet? Trendsetter? Soothsayer? I’ll let you be the judge.)
Unicorns deserve all of this press right now, because they are wonderful. The very idea of them brings magic into the world and I am ALL FOR THAT.
Last year, I was visiting San Francisco and ventured into FLAX Art and Design – the most wonderful art supply store that has ever existed. There, I saw a letterpress card that I almost died over. Why? Because it had a unicorn on it. It’s been on my mind ever since and this whole unicorn craze had me yearning to turn the image into some folk-art…
Unicorns are just great. They really are. However, I understand that you are likely over the age of 10 and may not be running out to your nearest toy store to snap up a unicorn backpack to replace your leather bag no matter what the Wall Street Journal says. What if we didn’t go buy the unicorns, though? What if we were the unicorns?
See, unicorns can inspire and delight us, but we don’t have to leave all the magic up to them. (Seeing as they are primarily inanimate objects such as lunch boxes and plush toys, I certainly HOPE we aren’t counting on them to bring the magic…but if you’re 5 and your mom is reading this to you then just disregard that entire little rant. Go play outside! You might see a unicorn!) For the rest of us, though…we can BE THE UNICORNS.
And you guys – I actually already know a real life unicorn. Last Thursday, Bobby walked through the door carrying TWO DOZEN roses. It had been a long and solitary day for me. I had been by myself for 15 hours by the time he finally got home. I had kept the pity party committee at bay, but just barely.
Are you ready for the biggest twist, though? The roses weren’t from Bobby. He’s not the unicorn in this story. The roses were from one of the golf instructors, Patricia, who teaches at the golf school where Bobby is an assistant. Only two of the assistants at the school are married – Bobby and another guy – and Patricia had brought in these overflowing bunches of roses with instructions to “give these to your wives tonight.” She said she realized how much we are sacrificing when it comes to the long hours our husbands are working, the stress that comes with their jobs, being in a new city. So she wanted us to have these gorgeous roses. Patricia is a real life unicorn!
I honestly could have cried. I had met Patricia a grand total of one time and she had just gifted me 24 perfect roses. I felt like she SAW me. She reached into my solitary, lonely, quiet day and SAW me, recognized me. THAT, my friends, is bringing some serious magic into the world. THAT is what it means to be a unicorn.
What if we all resolved to be unicorns this week? What if we all made a silent promise to reach out to someone and let them know they matter? What if we all did some random act of kindness for the weary mother riding the bus or the gas station attendant who has been on his feet all day? (I think it’s worth mentioning this all would probably be way more fun if we were to commit these random acts of kindness while prancing around wearing sparkly horns on our heads. But if the group isn’t feeling up to that yet, we can be incognito unicorns. It will be like we’re in the Unicorn CIA.)
“And so shines a good deed in a weary world.”
-Willy Wonka
What are your favorite small kindnesses to do for others or of which you have been the recipient? Let us all know in the comments so we can get the ideas flowing!
Fellow unicorns, thanks for reading today. Now let’s get this party started and make this world a little more magical for one another.
Wow! How amazingly thoughtful of Patricia! It’s so cool to hear stories like this that remind me that there is always room to be more generous and give from a place of abundance to strangers.
Thanks for sharing!
Has your St. Paddy’s day parcel arrived yet? Your unicorn mother put in a box of unicorn bandages I thought you’d flip over. :) I love this post, Grace! I love the idea that by doing kindnesses we bring magic into the world. I believe it.
BTW, Grace I checked out the card on FLAX that inspired you. I like your unicorn even better: yours is kind of pudgy, much more real. It’s funny and great!
What an awesome story!!!
You inspire me!
Beautiful post! So much to think about!
Grace,
I’ve been obsessed with unicorns ever since I can remember. My parents helped to fuel that buying me every unicorn book and figurine and stuffed toy they seemed to come into contact with (Bruce Coville’s Unicorn Chronicles, which I actually only finished two years ago, The Unicorns of Balinor series, The Last Unicorn movie and book, A Unicorn is Born, etc). The thing that really did me in was a photography book called Unicorns I Have Known, that seemed to picture real unicorns alongside poems from William Blake.
I digress though. Simply put, I love unicorns and anything related to them to this day, so this is the best blog post ever. Especially since it puts forward the idea that I can be a unicorn (which I have dreamed about for a long time).
I’m so glad to hear your story about the roses! They look lovely.
It’s so beautiful when things like that happen. One of my favorite things is getting tea for the teacher who sits next to me now. It’s something my supervisor used to do for me, and when I realized how sad I was because she was no longer at my school to do it, I realized the way to solve it was to become her and do the same thing for someone else. :)
I lovelovelove the fact that you’re obsessed with unicorns! Such a fun fact about you. Watch out, all future gifts may be unicorn related…
That’s so lovely about the tea that you bring for the teacher who sits next to you. It’s amazing how much it can lift your spirits to be a unicorn for someone else. I’m sad for you that your beloved supervisor had to move schools but thrilled that you’ve found a way to make things a little better by spreading her magic!
I’m surprised we didn’t know this about each other?! The mutual love of unicorns seems like a key bonding point!
And thank you, yes, sometimes the best way to deal with losing a little bit of magic in your life is to make up for it by yourself.
KEY bonding point! Although I feel like I just recently developed this love of unicorns…I’ve always appreciated them, but they’ve been brought to a whole new level over the past couple months. Just catching up to you! ;)