Colorado magician Cody Landstrom performed for my sixth birthday party back in 1992 and is now a regular summer attraction at the Park County libraries.

Photo courtesy Karen Meyer

A couple weeks ago my mom texted me old two pictures of me, amongst a crowd of other kids, watching a magician perform during my sixth birthday party at our home at the time in Fort Collins, Colorado.

She had seen a story in our paper about a popular magician returning for another summer tour of the Park County libraries. Turns out, it’s the same magician, Cody Landstrom, who still lives in my old hometown.

Naturally, when there was a chance to take pictures of his performance at the Powell Library and everyone else was unavailable, I figured I’d grab a camera and go take the pictures.

Before the show started I said hello and showed him the pictures my mom had sent me. He smiled, I smiled, the children’s librarian smiled and then very politely informed me it was time for the show to start.

I can’t say watching his show again brought back memories of myself in 1992, but it made me smile to see all the kids present gasp, their eyes light up when a potato appeared behind someone’s ear, or a ball in a girl’s hand turn into two with the tap of a wand.

Landstrom has become something of a regular at the Park County libraries, and how cool is that? Our community libraries provide for these moments in a way few other institutions can match. Where else could I stumble in to a guy who lives nearly eight hours away and who, more than 30 years ago, came into my childhood home to make my friends and I smile?