Let me tell you a shopping tale. Once upon a … well, all the … time, I was an unfit shopper.  The sizes I chose were too big, as confirmed by blunt, loving comments from numerous (that’s right – multiple) friends and family. I surveyed every option, and I took too long. I wanted my choice to be just right, so I was picky. I’m frugal. Ok, I’m still cheap. 

If anyone’s reading this, please help me stop wearing oversized clothes and buying four of the same ten dollar shirt. 

Enter Ilse, the shopping fairy who gracefully flitted to my side when she noticed I was wandering around Anthropologie under a spell and overloaded with wrongly sized items. She wasted no time to astutely, amusingly look me up and down, pull up my overly long shirt, and survey my true size.  Leggings don’t lie.  With a smile, she said, “Oh, honey, that’s not your size!” She magically made my load disappear.  Then, she waved her wand, and I was wearing a new dress! Well, almost. I think it’s reasonable to assume she’s Stacy London in fairy form.

Like the true shopping fairy she is, with her small frame, Ilse tirelessly fluttered to my dressing room with options from nearly every rack.  All I had to do was wait, try on, and (she sassily made me) model. I felt like royalty! She shopped the entire store for me.  Not to mention, she was spot-on about my size. She’s way too young to be my shopping fairy godmother, right? 

That day, I left with a carriage full of flattering tops, shorts, and even pants – that fit! And, that isn’t even the happy ending. About six months later, I went back to the store, for good reason: my only semi-workable jeans were hand-me-downs from my sweet sister. “Semi-” is a generous description. Since the dressing rooms happened to be closed that day, I waited to shop until the following weekend. I even prayed for shopping help before I went – God’s honest truth. 

The following weekend, guess who appeared in a poof, just when I needed her most? Ilse! She told me, like myself, it was only the second time she’d been there in six months. Of course, she snagged the winning jeans I never would have noticed, among other fairy finds. 

I had not one but two magical shopping experiences, and here are the reasons I’m telling this tale:

I’m thankful for those with naturally different skills who bring help (or, to the untrained shopping eye, a little magic?) to ordinary tasks on ordinary days. “Magic” can be enchanting when it’s a mystery with sweet results. Just like magic, when someone’s natural gift is shared with someone who lacks it and, perhaps, doesn’t understand it, it can be awe-inspiring. At least for me, for instance, it’s beyond comprehension how shopping can be enjoyable and easy or how Einstein’s mind worked. Although very different, to me, each gift has a mysterious, surreal quality, and each gift was used for good.

Ilse’s talent and help made my day easier, brighter, and lighter – like any good fairy would do. I think (and hope) it was enjoyable for her to help me pick the right clothes, but it would have been a task for me. She made shopping fun, which confirms the inescapable: she is my shopping fairy godmother! I didn’t see the magic wand, but I know it was there, tucked behind her store radio. Ilse’s help pushes me to ponder how I can make others’ days better with what comes easiest to me.

In this tale and others, if you don’t have room for help with the right fit, metaphorically speaking, you may miss out on a better ending. As someone who (foolishly) prides herself on independence, giving others the chance to help is, counterintuitively, a gracious act. Allowing someone to help offers them the opportunity to be appreciated. And, with your unique gifts, you can send a little magic someone else’s way, too.  If there isn’t room in your life to say yes to those who genuinely want to help you and have your best interests at heart, you may miss their unique gifts and  “magic”. 

Thanks to a kind, talented, clever, helpful, sassy lady at an ordinary store on an ordinary day, I experienced some shopping magic. What I thought would be a tedious chore ended with my new friend, Ilse, my clothes, and I living happily ever after.