The Magic of Hello

Recently my sister and I have been keeping in touch through video blogs. It’s a new idea for me. I reserve thoughts and deams and “what I did today’s” for a red spiral-bound notebook, and seeing all of those things coming from my face in a video blog is a little unnerving. Admittedly, I was inspired to start vlogging after watching the youtube channel, vlogbrothers. Two brothers reconnect with each other wherever they are in the nerd universe through youtube. There is a lot of talk of star wars and nerd fighters and I just can’t help myself when people star talking nerdy.

So, my sister and I have been vlogging just to say “hello” and report some silly thing like “I saw Elvis yesterday in the canned fruit isle at the grocery store.” I love you, I miss you, and I’ll see you later are constants.

Sometimes I cry a little inside at how ridiculous I think I sound. I shake my head to think how idiotic it may seem to someone who happens to put in “ta2” in a youtube search and up pops the video I made for my sister about corny jokes. (What lies at the bottom of the ocean and twitches? A nervous wreck.)

In my mind, any college cinematographer would have B-rated nightmares for months after watching one. But, the magic isn’t in the vlog’s quality - it’s the hello. My sister doesn’t care how ridiculous I am. In fact she loves that I’m ridiculous, and I think the videos I get from her are little pieces of magic. I get to hear and see her. She is only two hours away at college but she doesn’t travel home often, thanks to exams, student teaching, and other various perils of college life like indigestion from refried burritos.

The magic comes from knowing she’s thinking of me. When she says, "Hello, sister. I have so many things to tell you," I just get so happy inside. Actually, there’s a little magic that comes from knowing anyone is thinking of me. Like when someone smiles at me walking down the street, or when a friend calls and says, “Hi there I just heard Mmmbop on the radio and thought of you.” And I’m completely undone when I get a text from that special person, “Hey there pretty girl, I hope your day is going well.”

I call these feelings "the happy inside body squeeze." You may have a different name for it but I know you know what I'm talking about. These videos and the little hello they contain, like the little hello's everywhere, are what I call magic.