Wishes

Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight,
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
  
"Now make a wish and blow out the candles." Everyone begins to applaud as I blow out all of the candles on my birthday cake. "Now remember.  You mustn't tell anyone what you wished for or it won't come true."  Oh my, as I recall that was a hard one for a little girl.  Blowing out the candles was easy; making the wish was easy. Heck, I always had a ton of them.  No, the hard part was keeping the wish to myself. You know how it was when we were little. It was just so hard to keep a secret. (Hey, for some of us, it is still hard.) I'd get to looking around the room, and my eyes would get that glint; immediately grandpa knew I was close to blurting it out to everyone, so he would put his finger to his mouth and shake his head... 'Shush. Isn't it time to cut the cake?" he would ask.  Grandpa always knew how to change my train of thought.  And then we would cut the cake, and amidst all the laughter and conversation, my presents would  be opened, and my wish would be forgotten.

Yesterday's group topic was "Goals", and somehow it got around to wishes...what each member wished for their future.  Most just wished that this time around it would go well, and they'd live a clean and sober life...that they would be able to live like the normal people.  I hate it when I hear that.  We're all normal. I wish they wouldn't say that. 
 
Everyone wishes for something at some point or another. When we see a falling star we wish upon it...hoping that we are the first to see it so that our wish will come true. We wish on the first star of the night; we pass a wishing well and toss a penny in;  and we blow dandelions in the wind. We wish upon lucky leprechauns, look for four leaf clovers and hope to stumble across a genie in a lamp. We wish, we wish, we wish... This is what dreams are made of. This is how "hope" is born.

I remember when I was a youngster, my wishes were so basic...a new doll, a trip to the amusement park...a penny for a candy bar at the corner store.  I wished that birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, would last forever.  I wished for snow and day off from school.  Then, as I passed from childhood and entered the world of a teenager, I wished for a boyfriend, to go to the prom, to be popular and treated like the other kids. I wished my mom was not so strict with me.  When I was 18, I wished I was 21...and when I was 41, I wished I was 18. I wished I had a second chance. 

A wish is a need or a yearning for something that you want; a wish means to have a hope, to desire.  We wish for happiness...for a new outfit...for a better day. We wish for the things we've lost and the things we once knew.  We wish for our youth but then we remember that we would lose all the wisdom we have gained throughout the years.  We wish good things for our loved ones who may be suffering and ailing, and when it seems as if our wishes aren't coming true, we ask the "man upstairs" to hear us and hope that He will grant us what we are seeking. 

We wish not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but we wish for others as well.  We wish that there will be peace in the world and that no one will have go to bed hungry. We wish for tolerance and love of one another and respect of each others' beliefs...that religion will not be the cause of so many wars...of so much pain and heartache....of so many deaths.  We wish for a better world for our children and for our children's children.  We wish we could save the earth.

  

A wish is a quiet little whisper that comes from within the heart; it is a need of the soul.  A wish is something that makes you truly happy...a want is something that makes you smile...even if just for a moment. A want is never something you need; it is simply something you can live without. A wish can be something as simple and beautiful as love. Cherish what you wish for because it is more valuable than what you want.

Wishes are a momentary escape from reality and they help to restore our hope in life, love and the whole mixed up, crazy world around us.  If you feel like a fool for making a wish, don't. You're just acting on your need to hope. Where there is hope, there is the desire to change things and where there is desire to change things there is success.

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!
--Irish Blessing--