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Just thought I'd share a magical moment with you TM readers.
I got to meet my brothers new girlfriends children for the first time, two girls ages 6 and 7.
I got the usual response from the little ones that I get from people that meet me through my brother, (a big bragger)
wich is "show us some magic please, please, please" I did of course and they went home bragging me up to their mother,
the following evening my brother shows up with his girlfriend the mother of the two darling girls, and she thanks me and tells me how much
her girls like me and how they told her that I could make coins shrink and they were so amazed. She then asks if I wouldn't mind showing
her some of what she'd been hearing about, and I obliged. After a few effects that went over well, I was about to be finished with my
entertainment for the evening and was putting away my props and cards, when she says " I didn't get to see you make any coins shrink" ,
The last effect I had done was a coin penatration through the bottom of a solid glass, the coin I used had an attractive quality to it and
it appeared to be a coin I had borrowed from her. To help sell the idea that there was no switching, I marked on the borrowed coin an
identifying mark, the coin seemed to melt through the glass, and all was going great. After the effect, I ended clean and returned the
borrowed marked coin.
At this point, as I was putting things away, is when she asked about not getting to see a coin shrink. So I asked for the coin back
from her once again, and she hands it back to me, this time I was using an english penny, as she hands it back to me, I did a french drop
and switched it out quickly, this went unoticed as planned. I then place the coin in my left palm and show my right palm empty and sleeve to be clean
I said "as I wave my hand over the coin if you believe and say the magic words " I believe in magic" you will see the magic happen. I do the wave and she
says the words and Ta Da ...Nothing happened! I am looking confused, I use one of my outs and say "your not truely believing", " you have to believe for it to work" and we try it again, I do the wave and she says the words.. once again, nothing happened. I wasn't attempting to shrink the coin like she thought I was anyway, because
I was unprepared for her request, but I was attempting to make her think I was trying to shrink it and have it to "accidentally" change into a dime instead.
However it wasn't working for me and I wasn't sure why, I started to think I goofed when i did the switch and had the wrong coin in hand, I go for another escape
out of my failure by saying "it worked for your girls, probably because their young and they do still believe in magic" At this point she says " hmm,.. but I do believe some magic is real" just as she says that. I waved my hand one more time across the coin, as she was staring at the coin intensely, the copper penny turned into a shiny silver dime right in front of us! , It even surprised me it worked, because as I said, I thought I goofed it up bad. My genuine surprise shined through, as my jaw dropped at the same time hers did, I said " I wasn't so surprised that you believed eneough to make the magic happen, but I expected it to shrink, and it changed into a whole different coin instead!" She said "thats a little scary, Did you make a deal with the Devil? I didn't think that when something goes wrong, it would make it even better, but it sure did this time. hope somebody reads my story here and comments on it, that makes sharing more fun when you know some people appreciate it

Oh, I do things wrong all the time. It is actually far better that way. Some magicians think they have to be perfect. They don't. Perfection can make you look like a robot. Faults don't matter. Lack of virtues are the problem. Mistakes make you look human. Audiences like it when you slip up providing you make a joke of it. That is because laymen resent being fooled by someone who seems superior especially if they perform in a slightly arrogant fashion. I have often thought that perfection is a lack of perfection in itself. I don't want to be perfect. I merely want to be human. Audiences prefer that. And it brings a little spontaneity to your work.

Keep the mistakes within reason though. You don't want people falling off chair suspensions or bullet catching tricks going wrong.

Hi Seymour.

That was a very enjoyable story.
It's interesting how mistakes could shape our magic.

Will you change the way you perform this trick now?
Will you always perform it like it is going wrong, the coin is going to shrink, but they aren't believing enough... As above, and then change the coin to the dime?

Thanks for the comments, I would enjoy it very much if that moment could be recreated, perhaps a little sooner, like the third try rather than the fifth.
I do like the idea of it going a bit wrong, like becoming a different coin instead of shrinking, but had I been better prepared, I would like to had went on
by saying "if the penny did that lets see what a different coin might do", then borrow a nickel to then have it shrink. That way she would have told her girls
that she did see the incredible shrinking coin, oh well, maybe next time I'm glad she left feeling like she saw some wonderful unexplainable magic happenings though,
and my reputation by word of mouth travels on, I had a couple of wonderful magic filled evenings with good people, I am expanding and working on putting together a stage routine, but I will never abandon close-up magic, I really like the interaction and the in their hands, under their noses, the laughs,the smiles, the twinkling eyes,
the hand shakes, the pats on the back and shoulder, you get to see more expression and appreciation rather than just an applause at the end. But I do enjoy all
aspects of magic both as a spectator and a performer. Close-up is just my personal favorite.