A MESSAGE FROM A HUMAN ANGEL, “This is your job”

A Magician delivered God’s message to me, and it changed everything…

Much like you, life has handed me a lot of sour lemons. The road I have walked filled with curve balls has been exhausting and has, on a few occasions, brought me to my knees. Praying was really the only thing I knew how to do anymore. Fear is crippling and keeping what you have (no matter how unhappy you are) is “safe” and I kept my life “safe” for a long time. It was on a drive to an indoor water park with my young children and now ex husband that I looked out the window at the snow on the mountains and I prayed. I prayed for the entire 2 hour drive. The walls were closing in, everything was falling apart to say the least and I just hung on to safety for dear life. “Dear God” I would say in my head, “Show me a sign, any sign, that if I leave my job that is destroying me and start a photography business that I will be ok, that my children will be ok God, just show me a sign- I just need to make enough just to support myself- please just a sign” and the 2 hour drive came to an end.

Arriving at the indoor water park in January of 2006 with my 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter was joyful for them and chaotic for me. As we strong mothers do I smiled and was happy they were happy. They quickly changed into their suits and off to the slides we went. On the way there they saw a sign . . . “ Captain Magic! 6pm” - “Mommy, mommy can we go???”

At 5:45pm when I could finally get them out of the water I rushed them back to the room into dry clothing, their hair still smelling like chlorine and matted down… We got to the Magic room a bit late and had to sit in the far back of the room. The show - presented by Captain Magic himself was a huge hit with the kids… yet I just remember looking and feeling so empty - so many happy families and people- I just didn’t feel anymore and held everything in as much as I could. I wasn’t happy, I felt like a failure in every sense and was in a toxic relationship. Life was pretty hard, emotionally painful and I did not talk about it to anyone - ever. I never aired dirty laundry in public. I had to be strong.

Towards the end of the show Capt Magic needed a volunteer for his very last act. My daughter had been trying to partake but we were so far in the back, she never got picked… but this time she was not taking no for an answer. As he called for one last child to come up, she climbed on top of a chair and jumped up and down screaming, “Pick me! Pick me!” - and he did, and she beamed!

She proudly walked up in front of over 100 people where he welcomed her and that he would be levitating her for his last act. She was so proud. And then he said something terrifying. He said, “Where is this child's mother?” What??? No. I was not part of this, no way. My hair was matted and smelled like chlorine, I was 50 lbs overweight, sad and embarrassed. He asked again. I cringed. He asked once again and I slowly, holding back tears, made my way up to the front. I wanted to hide, I wanted to cry. It took everything I had that day.

He greeted me, turned his back to me fumbling through a bag that I could not see… my daughter laying on the levitation table. He finally found what he had been searching and held it with two hands, covering the item so I could not see what it was - and he said: “Give me your hands.” As I reached out with my hands he placed the “item” in my hand. He starred at me in the eyes so intentionally . . . his eyes were blue and soothing and they were filled with purpose. And as he looked at me he placed the item in my hand and he said, “This is your job” and he placed a camera in my hand! I will never forget that moment ever in my life. It was a turning point. It was God’s message from a human angel he put in my life. Nothing has ever been the same since. It was the little bit of fuel I needed to light a fire so big and hot that it has changed my entire life. So this is the most important picture I have ever taken. It is framed on my desk, its a polaroid of Captain Magic levitating my daughter that day, the day that God sent me a human angel and a sign to light my torch.

Maria Sampaio, M. Artist, M. Photog.,Cr., CPP

Watch a quick video of the artist telling this story here: MY STORY