If someone had told me that one day I’d be sitting at a coffee shop, sipping espresso while putting together a quick mock-up of a string quartet with electric bass and some percussion in just a couple of hours to electronically send it off to a client, I’d have said, “Whaaaaat?” Yet here I am doing exactly that. And as I work, I can’t help but think back to when I was 10 years old, utterly captivated by a watch that could sing simple, silly jingles. It felt like a tiny miracle. Looking back, it wasn’t such a big deal. If a digital watch could beep on the hour or sound an alarm, why couldn’t it rearrange those sounds into a five-second tune? At the time, it was mind-blowing. Now, with a bit more maturity and the capacity for reflection, I understand why it wasn’t such a leap. But that doesn’t make it any less extraordinary. Here I am, pressing keys on a small, toy-like keyboard that can produce the sound of violas so lifelike, it’s as if an orchestra is at my fingertips. This keyboard exists because brilliant technicians recorded masterful musicians, capturing their artistry for moments like this. To be able to summon such beauty in a coffee shop and instantly share it with someone miles away feels like magic. And yet, the real magic isn’t in the tool or the music—it’s in the space that allows this phenomenon to happen. Gratitude, I’ve come to realize, is the awareness of that space. We don’t need to force belief in magic; we only need to open our eyes and see clearly. Just because we can lift an espresso cup, taste its richness, and savor the experience doesn’t mean we were built to be able to do that. There’s something else at play, something enabling all of it—the jingle-playing watch, the composing computer, even the simple act of sipping coffee.
And so, I sit here, marveling at the small miracles of the everyday. A keyboard, an espresso, a moment of stillness between one note and the next. Each is a doorway to something infinitely larger, something beyond comprehension yet undeniably real. It’s not about believing in magic; it’s about feeling the undeniable real inside us.
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