easier said

Last night I called my niece to wish her happy birthday. Seventeen years ago I saw her slip into this world, the first of many babies I would see born. My sister and I had shopped for presents for her at Pantheacon, the strange annual pagan conference in San Jose. My niece was delighted by the pentacle her mother had given her that morning. She hadn't opened my gift yet, a perfume bottle that has a silver dragon wrapped around it. She was saving that for after dinner and cake. Later I will fill it with a perfume oil I make especially for her. What a surprise, the normalcy of my niece's witchhood. I asked her about her boyfriend, knowing she had been disaponted on Valentine's day. She had made him a valentine and was met with nothing in return. I knew she was worried that the same thing would happen on her birthday. It did. As she said "no flowers, no card, not even a damn balloon!". She told me her friends were telling her to dump him. She said, "Well, that's easier said than done."

I hope she does say it. I hope she does do it. I am so struck by me family's heritage, it's legacy of magical women who certainly can pick them. And then have a damn hard time letting go.
This is her first boyfriend. So, this will of course be her first breakup. I'm hoping and wishing that the gifts her mother and I gave her are imbued with the kind of powers that will assist her in saying what needs to be said and following thru on what needs to be done, easy or not.