the magic wardrobe of change…
April 30, 2012
So there was a day of Netflix watching…yes, an entire day. Because this is what is required to complete blog posts on some days. And when you can no longer watch even one more episode of Garfield, your mind finally returns to imagination.
It all started with Lyra deciding she should have a picnic in the old red wardrobe that is falling apart. The bottom row usually holds towels but every last one is in the laundry, which incidentally has grown into a small mountain. An empty space is an invitation for picnics and eventually magic.
When she was eventually done picnic-ing and lounging, someone found an old hand-me-down gifted wand and figured out it was indeed a magic wardrobe…and the game began. Someone climbed in, a dramatic wave of the wand and the person climbed out something completely different… it was usually a cat or a frog, but each time it grew more exciting.
I found myself kind of wishing I could climb into the magic wardrobe and come out changed…and there are things and experiences that change us, like magic, quickly- some that harm us that we have to work hard to undo, and others that change or rearrange our souls in profound ways for the better.
…and there are some magic wardrobes that we have to climb into over and over again to try change on until it sticks or to get comfortable with the idea of something that is completely different than what we know or who we are.
…and there are some magic wardrobes that we have to climb into to dream the impossible or to keep our dreams close. I think these might be the best wardrobe moments, because you never know when the magic may actually happen or that the dream is being held when we can’t seem to hold on…or it’s just too big/scary.
…and sometimes the magic in the wardrobe is love, hope or kindness…or truth- the gentle and hard kind, vulnerability or courage.
All of it is important for change to come, or for it to find us, or for us to embrace what is already there.
If you could lounge in the magic wardrobe today, what would you be when you came out? or what would the wardrobe hold for you? who do you wish could climb into the wardrobe with you?
Feel free to use the comments as the giant wardrobe today.
…and don’t you kinda wish you were reading The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe right now? and actually, it’s a red armoire, but wardrobe sounds dreamier.
Kindnessgirl 
April 30, 2012 at 10:03 pm
I wish I could crawl into the wardrobe with nothing, and no one, just so I could disconnect from the 10,000 other things going on around me! I need some peace 🙂
May 1, 2012 at 12:37 am
I would love to climb in to change back into me…the me that used to be confident and comfortable and stood my ground and knew the words-to say, to songs, to clearly describe what I mean. I want to change into that funny girl who believed everything was possible and it usually was. I really miss her. I know she’s there…Some days, closer than others. Today, not so much. I love this idea, Patience. Thank you for giving me another sweet and gentle clue to possibly finding her again. xxoo
May 1, 2012 at 7:11 am
I could write a book on what I could do with a magic wardrobe. Wouldn’t it be fun to be able to come out of the wardrobe and be able to speak to animals? Or be able to sense the good or evil in a person… to be warned. I’ve been told more than once that I am too trusting and it has come back to haunt me more than once, but I still believe the world is basically good and everyone should be given the benefit of the doubt. It makes me sad when having a big heart can be thought of as something not good or considered a weakness. So being able to sense if someone was good or bad would help me greatly! Wouldn’t it be wonderful is the wardrobe was a magic portal and you could go visit any of your family any time you wanted and not have to pay for tickets or travel for long distances that take hours to get there? I could just pop into the wardrobe and be visiting my son in Texas or my parents up north. I could go on, but thank you Patience for giving me something fun to think about today. Oh by the way… my first Kindness changes everything sticker went up today and I’ve passed two of them out for others to stick up somewhere. What a great idea!!!! Keep’em coming…
May 1, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Great post! If I could go in the wardrobe and come out transformed, it would be in terms of gaining why feels like hidden information about what career I want to follow. Gone would be what feels like the inevitable judgment of others: “You’re almost 40 – pick something!” Or “You mean you still haven’t figured that out? The rest of us get that sorted out in our early 20s.” I suppose the real issue is, one has to work at something, and people out of kindness always ask, “So what do you want to do?” I’d give a lot to never have that conversation again. In a way, I feel like what I want to do is no one’s business but mine. And that I shouldn’t have to choose a career just because someone else has. There always seems a discrepancy towards how I feel about something and “reality”, lol. Thanks for listening.
May 1, 2012 at 1:35 pm
I would jump into that magic wardrobe and come out changed in the most peaceful way…I’d be an observer (and not have to talk incessantly), an enjoyer (a smile on my face, embracing the sights, sounds and smells), a quiet, gentle supporter (no need for verbose lessons), I’d be nicer than I feel inside (and everyone would marvel at my kindness), I’d get my sparkle back (and everyone could see it –even me), and I’d magically make the right decisions, life would be easy, and days would slow down so that I could just relax into them and embrace what each day may bring….
May 1, 2012 at 3:39 pm
I would come out with more courage and a softer heart.
May 1, 2012 at 5:34 pm
What would I be when I came out?
brave
May 2, 2012 at 5:31 am
I love the idea that the wardrobe could hold something for us- like a secret sacred space of reserves to tap into . So for myself I’d like it to hold child like wonder & joy. Then when I felt as thought those things were waning or fading in the world, I’d go into the wardrobe & find my heart replenished; my spirit restored…Oh & chocolate. There’d definitely need to be chocolate in there as well…
May 2, 2012 at 2:57 pm
I discovered your wonderful blog from my friend, Barefoot Lisa. It is truly delightful. I only have one little guy, but I certainly use Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for blog time! Yes, a magic wardrobe…full of wonder….Wonderful. Thank you for your creativity! Blessings, Erin, Bella Bleue
May 2, 2012 at 4:15 pm
I love these comments! I’ve been reading Kindnessgirl’s blogs for a while now, and reading your comments, but now I’ve ventured out to chat with all of you!
I’d actually like to take into the wardrobe and come out with some various bits and pieces of what all of you have dreamed. . . . starting with chocolate, first, of course (thanks, Jennifer)!!!! Oooh, and some of those wonderful English biscuits, some McVitties with milk chocolate on one side, and maybe a pack of Oh!s. (But, oh, dear, this means I’ll need to be packing a bottle of milk, doesn’t it. I can’t have those things without milk.) (Truth be known, *I* can’t have those cookies at all any more. I’ve become a celiac since I last was in England. But if Kindnessgirl has taught me anything, it’s taught me I CAN DREAM.)
I’d love to be reading *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* (or, for me, even better, *The Lord of the Rings* or *His Dark Materials*) with Patience, but not just reading it– reading it for the first time again! You know? When you didn’t know what was just around the bend, and that new world of wonder was just opening up, and you knew in your bones that you’d live there, from time to time, the rest of your life, but it as yet was unexplored and tears had not yet been shed on the journey.
And, to that extent, it’s that place of innocence that it sounds as though we’re all seeking again, where we can have our sparkle back (ohhhh, me, too, Brenda!) and decisions are suddenly easy again, and the days are slower so that we *can* sparkle and think about things long enough actually to make authentic choices and decisions rather than just rush along, letting expediency make the choices for us. I am so very much with you on THAT.
I’d like to go into the wardrobe and “find my heart replenished and my spirit restored,” like you said, and while I’m in there I want to be Lyra (or maybe her namesake?) or a distance-traveler like Cindy or a time-traveler (THAT would be so wonderful– to zip back in time or forward, just for a few minutes, to experience something specific!) without expense of purse or body or spirit. In fact, I think that is the most enticing thing about the wardrobe– that sense that there is no cost to the magic, that we can return to innocence or a seed-bed of creativity with no loss or cost to ourselves or our world. “No-risk Magic Practiced Here.”
The thing about that horrible question, “what do you want to do?” **juliet, is that it presupposes that DOING is more worthy than BEING. Most likely, you already ARE being what you want and thus to that extent doing what you want in life– that is, approaching each of life’s tasks with a good and loyal heart and giving whatever that task may be your best shot. If we DO that, then it doesn’t matter whether we are ragpickers or neurosurgeons, because a job well-done is an enlargement of the spirit. The real question is not WHAT do you want to do? but HOW do you want to do *anything*? From this angle, it matters not what we DO. Mother Teresa is famous for saying, “You cannot do great things. You can do only small things with great love.”
And, I’d add, with Jet and Kimberley, with bravery, we pray. Courage. And a soft heart. So that, as Jeri said, maybe one day I can find myself again. Where did she go, that laughing girl who really did believe that ANYthing is possible? I miss her spirit more than anything in the world. This cynical thing that passes for “practical” I don’t recognize any more. I don’t know where that hopeful laughing girl went, but like you, IHeartVegetables, more than anything I need the cool darkness of the wardrobe to rest for a while, to dream and sleep and dream again, so that maybe one day, when I wake, I’ll wake to my own singing.
So, Patience, what is the difference between an armoire and a wardrobe? I just thought that they mean the same things, but “Armoire” just sounds all Frenchy and formal, while “wardrobe” is down-home English like our favorite authors and the best of Harry Potter.
In any case, I *want* a wardrobe!
May 3, 2012 at 7:59 am
SO glad you decided to chat! We needed your voice (and wisdom)! 🙂
May 2, 2012 at 4:32 pm
Erin, Bella Bleue– I don’t want to leave you out, since I addressed everybody else who had posted! You left your comment while I was composing (and then going out to an appointment, and on and on).
Yeah, well, I’m old enough to remember the original Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, with Annette and Frankie and all the little kids. I wish I didn’t feel sad when I look back on all that, knowing now what we know happened to Annette, for example. I am working on dwelling in the happy memory and in this happy moment, remembering. But it’s hard.
Any magic potions for besting the sadness of happy memories? (How’s that for an oxymoron? But you guys know what I mean, I’m sure!)
May 3, 2012 at 7:13 am
I love that I found you all. It makes the world less scary when you know there are others that feel the same thing as you. I know that is cliche, but how many groups do you know out there that are for women that just want to get their spark back, slow time down, enjoy their family? This may be Patience’s blog, but I consider it my “Help me feel good” group. Love, Love, Love this Patience’s blogger group!
May 3, 2012 at 7:58 am
I SO agree…you all make this space so rich and real…thank you for taking time to share with me and for being in this thing together. So much love to you all!