"Bring the first thing that hits you on the nose." 

This is one of my favourite things to say, a somewhat inner joke with myself, and it comes from a deep place in my heart; a place of childlike wonder.  A comment one of our readers made on our Facebook page about the best gifts being from the heart had me thinking about gifts and my general habit of shunning the celebration of Valentine's Day in favour of spontaneous gifts from the heart that occur for no reason at all, except perhaps, love.

It is also a line from the most enchanting children's film I ever saw; a beautiful retelling of the Cinderella story which featured real actors (it was not an animation).  It appeared many years ago on an after school children's movie show called Peanuts and Popcorn.

In this story, Cinderella would often spend time in a shed in the woods on the property of her cruel stepmother.  An owl lived in this shed and served as her confidant - the only one she would share her woes and her dreams with.  Despite her woes, she was reasonably content and made friends with the other staff of the estate.  One day, one of the employees was heading into the town to pick up the weekly supplies from the markets and asked Cinderella if there was anything she needed.  Of course this was a laugh as she had no money to pay for anything and he had none to spend on her.  She teases him back and says wistfully with a smile, "Oh, just bring me the first thing that hits you on the nose".

While on his journey, the man is, indeed, hit on the nose by something falling from the sky: three acorns on a stem which a young man has shot from a tree with an arrow to prove his skill to his friends and to play a joke on the man.  The man, however, laughs - this is the first thing to hit him on the nose! So he pockets the acorns and upon his return gives the acorns to Cinderella, relating the story.  She puts these acorns among her small treasures in the shed.

Shortening the story, it turns out the acorns are magic.  The owl has something to do with this.  Cinderella discovers this when she accidentally drops one on the floor of the cabin and it magically turns into a costume.  It is a hunting outfit complete with bow and arrows.  She tries on the costume and heads out into the forest where she is spied by the young man with friends.  It is the arrogant young prince returned home from his travels and out hunting with friends.  They try to intimidate her, yet she outsmarts them and then uses her bow and arrows to best the prince and his pompous friends at sharpshooting and hunting. 

This is why I continue to love this retelling of Cinderella.  In this story she is a strong willed and content young woman who is capable and caring and able to rise above the silly, laughing prince and his pals.  As the story progresses, we see her capture the attention of the prince who wonders who this mysterious young woman is who can best him in skill and wit and doesn't seem at all interested in him.  The story roughly follows the classic, and if memory serves, the prince smartens up and isn't such a bad guy afterall and it all ends in a fluff of happiness, but in more equal terms for Cinderella. 

I loved this story as a kid and I love it still.  I loved the magic acorns that helped Cinderella find her inner strength in the face of adversity and arrogance.  I loved that she was an adventurer.  I loved the open hearted gift these acorns were: simple, thoughtful and full of hidden potential only realized if accepted with love and gratitude. And now my adult heart loves most of all the mix of childhood feelings that return when I say those magic words: the dreaminess, the sense of play and wonder, and how easily the world can be a magical place.

When the love of my life is heading out on errands or off on a trip, he usually asks me if he can bring me anything.  And you can guess what my response may be:  "Just the first thing that hits you on the nose".  I always delight in what this may be upon his return.  Small gifts of love that I treasure, sometimes as simple as a stem of Alder catkins, made magical by his thoughtfulness and my gratitude.