Here’s something I’ve never told anyone: When I was seventeen, I didn’t want to get married one day.
I wanted to be one of the witches in Practical Magic.
And not Sally and Gillian, played by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
They wanted to hide their gifts, blend in, be normal.
I wanted to be Aunt Frances, played by Stockard Channing.
She and her sister Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) lived in a big old house on the bay. They didn’t care that the town shunned them because they were witches. They didn’t want to blend in, or be normal. Being normal, they told the girls, “Is not necessarily a virtue. It rather denotes a lack of courage.”
They owned their power, and they owned their heritage. They had chocolate cake for breakfast, and midnight margaritas, and never bothered with “silly little things like bedtimes.”
Seriously, who wouldn’t want to have midnight margaritas?
So imagine my surprise on vacation last year when my friend Chris and I took the ferry from Seattle up to Whidbey Island on Puget Sound and stumbled—completely by accident—into Coupeville, the town where Practical Magic was filmed.
And they were having a festival to celebrate the anniversary of the filming, complete with a screening of the film.
Magic indeed.
As far as my desire to be a crazy old witch?
Maybe I’ll still grow out of it.
But maybe I’m growing into it.
As Jonah Hill says to Brad Pitt, is that the only two choices I’ve got? Getting married or being a Practical Magic witch?
That’s the way I see it!!!!!!
Sorry, I should have clarified that quote from Moneyball. Are the town’s residents proud of Practical Magic?
Ah yes, I remember now. About firing people!
The residents seem very proud – the shops and homes that had been used in the film had flyers in the windows announcing such. Though I think that was just because we were there for the festival, and isn’t a year round thing.
What other options could possibly be out there?
Isn’t there a sliding scale? There much be a viable middle ground…
So wait, what are you saying? That I could be married AND a witch?!
Impossible!
Have only seen this film once, but I did enjoy it a lot. So cool you stumbled across the anniversary festival. That certainly was a magical occurrence.
You can’t make this stuff up!