The Stronger A Woman Gets, The More

Life's An Act Of Magic, Too. Claire Hamill Sings A Line In One Of Her Songs That Really Sums It Up For Me: 'if There's No Magic, There's No Meaning.' Without Magic- Or Call It Wonder, Mystery, Natural Wisdom- Nothing Has Any Depth. It's All Just Surface. You Know: What You See Is What You Get. I Honestly Believe There's More To Everything Than That, Whether It's A Monet Hanging In A Gallery Or Some Old Vagrant Sleeping In An Alley.

Even, She Thought, Even Without The Gift Of Witchsight, There Was More Beauty To Be Found In The World Than Could Ever Be Snared In Language Or Music. And With The Sight.

The Stronger A Woman Gets, The More Insecure The Men In Her Life Feel. It Doesn’t Work That Way For A Woman. We Celebrate Strength--in Our Partners As Well As In Ourselves.

I'm Not...' Angharad Began, But Then She Thought. Not What? Not A Bad Person? Perhaps. But Had She Never Known Anger? Never Held Unkind Thoughts? The Stranger's Observation Was Valid. No One Was Innocent Of Darkness.

I Envy The Music Lovers Hear. I See Them Walking Hand In Hand, Standing Close To Each Other In A Queue At A Theater Or Subway Station, Heads Touching While They Sit On A Park Bench, And I Ache To Hear The Song That Plays Between Them: The Stirring Chords Of Romance's First Bloom, The Stately Airs That Whisper Between A Couple Long In Love. You Can See It In The Way They Look At Each Other... You Can Almost Hear It. Almost, But Not Quite, Because The Music Belongs To Them And All You Can Have Of It Is A Vague Echo That Rises Up From The Bittersweet Murmur And Shuffle Of Your Own Memories.