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Illustration by Juliana Neufeld
Our journey together began unexpectedly one fateful morning when her father, a man I had been seeing for several months, fell ill with a vicious 24-hour stomach bug.
Instead of adhering to my planned departure from their home before the children woke up, I found myself stepping into the role of caregiver for three young children, aged 6, 4 and 1, whom I’d only previously met in passing. His daughter was 6, and this event became a defining moment that forged an unbreakable bond between us.
Her tender heart and perceptive nature shone through while we stood at the kitchen table at the end of that very long day. Standing in silence, dicing vegetables, and tearing apart a roasted chicken for my “get well soon soup,” she expressed her desire for me to marry her father. To me, this revealed her deep understanding of human emotions.
She was separating chicken meat from bone and dropping the bones into a bowl. With hands covered in chicken grease, she softly told me she could tell that her father had been sad since separating from her mother and having the family split between two households. This tore at my heart, knowing the brave face her father had been putting on for his three children as they all navigated this new shift in their family.
“You’re making him happy again, and Daddy is the best when he’s happy,” she said innocently before exiting the kitchen to watch cartoons in the den with her brothers, leaving me in the kitchen with a mangled chicken and a deeper understanding of the path I was venturing onto.
Her words brought out how my own happiness had come back since meeting her father, and as the months progressed, our new family unit merged, and we all moved in together. And through it all, the wisdom she held beyond her years continued to astonish me.
On her seventh birthday as we sat at our dining room table, I asked her a question.
“Chicken,” I said, using a term of affection coined from our first day spent together, “What did you love most about the past year?”
Without hesitation, she replied, “Making magic happen.”
She explained that her magic had brought us together. That her magic and wishes for her father and me to fall in love and for us to be a family had come true.
Through her innocent eyes, I began to see the world in a new light – where simple acts of kindness, compassion and hope wielded a power far greater than I had ever imagined.
Her words lingered in my mind. Through her, I began to understand the true essence of magic – not spells or potions, but the life-changing power of true acts of love and kindness.
Even at 7, my stepdaughter had an incredible ability to spread love and joy, with a warmth and kindness that touched everyone. Last summer, a week after I had given birth to her new sister, my stepdaughter orchestrated an extravagant, if pretend, wedding for me and her father. She made sure my parents were coming and told them to bring flowers from their front garden. She picked out my dress, made a playlist on her phone and took on the role of officiant herself. She used skipping ropes to create an aisle, not for me to walk down but for her dad and me to meet halfway because “that’s better than one person doing all the work.” There was even a homemade ring.
Standing in soft grass on my painfully swollen postpartum feet, looking at her father, laughing his beautiful laugh that shines through his eyes while his eldest child performed our impromptu ceremony under the trees, I understood that the truest magic lies in the bonds we forge and the love we share.
This February, on my stepdaughter’s eighth birthday, she again shared her thoughts on the nature of magic and love. “I think that our magic comes from our love,” she said. “The more love you have and show people, the more magic grows inside you to use again for loving more and making more people feel love.”
In my stepdaughter, I have been blessed to find a mentor, guiding me on a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment. Her unwavering belief in the power of love has inspired me to embrace my own magic and share it with the world.
My stepdaughter’s insights into the nature of love and magic have left an extraordinary mark on my soul. I am excited to see how her magic will continue to unfold as she further develops into adolescence and womanhood. As we continue to navigate the ups and downs of life together, I am filled with gratitude for the lessons this sweet and insightful child have taught me about the infinite possibilities within each of us.
With her by my side, I walk through life with a newfound sense of purpose and gratitude, knowing that our love has the power to change lives and shape destinies.
This little girl, beautiful inside and out, has taught me so much.
Erin Horrocks-Pope lives in Toronto.