Saturday, May 20, 2006

Sunday Scribblings #8 - Three Wishes

I might as well be straight with you from the beginning and tell you that I am really scared of wishing. There, I said it. I am scared to make a wish. I think this fear comes from grade six when my teacher read us a story about a couple who get to make a wish. They wish for money and the next day they get a letter through the post that their son has died & the exact amount of compensation that they get for his death is the amount they had wished for. Yeah. Scary.

That being said, I am still the girl who wishes on falling stars, and on birthday candles and when the clock reads 11:11. I wouldn't want to waste the opportunity, but I am partially paralyzed with fear when I do make those wishes. For years I had the same wish. It was made out of love for someone else, and also because I was afraid to make a selfish wish. So there you have it - one of my many neurosis. I am not scared to make the wish. I am scared that it might come true and either a) not live up to what it was supposed to be like, b) bring with it some dire consequence or c) mess up fate so I would miss out on something that was supposed to happen that would have been better than what I wished for. I think I need to go back into therapy.

So deciding what would be my three wishes was a daunting task for me today. In fact, I may not sleep tonight knowing what I have put out into the universe, but I will try.

I wish: for health for me, my family and other assorted loved ones. I want my Dad to stay well, my brother to get well, my Mom and Mark to be well, my new niece or nephew to be born well, for my sister-in-law to come through the birth well, my Grandmas to be well, and on and on - I want health for the people I love. I know I could ask for happiness for them all, but I worry that that means that we will not learn our lessons. If we are all healthy, we can get on with the business of being happy without having so many worries. So... health.

I wish: to have the confidence, money and time to write the books I want to write and have them be published and then loved by at least one person. This wish is sort-of selfish, but I hope fervently that the words I write will reach at least one person and inspire or help them in some way.

I wish: for the leaders of this world to STOP IT. I wish that they would figure out the damage they are doing, stop making their citizens fight each other and start realizing that if they could learn to be nice to each other they might be able to work together to fix the huge MESS that they have made that the rest of us have to live in.

So there. Those are my wishes today. What would be yours? For more Sunday Scribblings, go here.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this post...I thought I might need to skip this week's topic for the first time because I always qualify my wishes as well. I am not really superstitious and yet if I see a penny lying on the ground (face up only of course), I stand a while and deliberate what my wish should be and how I should word it so that no unintentional "bad" should come of it.
BTW, could you please pass along the name of that therapist? :-)

Susannah Conway said...

Megg, i think my wishes are going to be the same yours.... if we both wish for the same things, do you think that will make them more powerful? wishing squared kind of thing...? :-)
Sx

Becca said...

I loved your wishes, for they reflect exactly what is in my heart! I think we should just make #1 and #3 the authorized wishes for the world, and everyone else can devise they're own personal variation of #2.

Cate said...

Always thankful, I am, for your honest insights about yourself. May all of your wishes come true!

Amber said...

I love what you said about going on with the business of being happy, if we have health. That is so true! We take it so for granted when we have it, and get so caught up in our gripes... but then when we don't have it, we see how much we should have been thankful all along.

I like your wishes. Now I have to think...

:)

John E. Tran said...

Your wishes have touched on three aspects of life which can't exist independently: self, family and society. Very thoughtful.

John.

paris parfait said...

I know what you mean, Megg - that old "be careful what you wish for, for you will surely get it" cautionary tale. But your wishes are wonderful and I can't imagine anyone finding fault with them. As for health, I agree it's the most important. Without that, everything else takes a back seat. Thanks for sharing your wishes.

Anonymous said...

I know exactly what you mean about the superstition. I call it "The Kylie Syndrome" because when she had it all - fame, money, looks, gorgeous boyfriend - she got cancer. You a,b,c reasons are pretty spot on.

Yet the wishes speak of the person you are: thoughtful, smart and creative. May they come true!

Laini Taylor said...

those are big and beautiful wishes and I'm glad you used one on something for you -- your writing. Although I know your writing would touch and affect far more than one person, even if it were truly just for you, there's nothing wrong with saving a wish for yourself, especially since your other wishes save a) your family, and b) the world! Fun topic, Meg! I'm still trying to decide between fiction and honesty on mine. (like how I set up fiction and honesty as opposites?)

Kay Cooke said...

Hoping all your wishes come true.

Deirdre said...

These are wonderful wishes. And #2 isn't selfish at all, because it would benefit others. And, really, there's nothing wrong with asking for yourself. I have some of the same superstitions about wishing. I find myself amending and disclaiming all the time.

Tammy Brierly said...

#3 is one I would have put next, if I had another wish. #2 is far from selfish.

May they all come true :)

Anonymous said...

I don't think wishing the world and others well, can be misconstrued; and we all need a dreamwish to hope for, for ourselves!
Good post and good wishes!

Tongue in Cheek Antiques said...

Honesty and caution there is nothing wrong with that, especially when one is making a wish!

Caroline said...

I wish that your fear of wishes is transformed into nothing more than an astute use of wishes from now on!

lisrobbe said...

Thanks for the lovely comment left on my blog. My wish for you is that you wake up one day to realize you are entitled to wish without fear ans may all your wishes spoken ot loud or tucked awaay in you har t and mind come true.

Mimey said...

It's selfish to wish for a writing gift and then keep it to yourself. If you've already got the talent, it's generous to wish it can reach the audience that may need it.

Your final wish, I wish it were that simple and I wish that putting it into words could make a difference. Make it so.

GoGo said...

I like the self-introspection on wishes...I too have the anxiety.

May all your wishes come true without consequence.

Anonymous said...

I think your wishes are perfectly lovely. What is it about feeling like if something good comes that surely something bad will accompany it?...I think we all succumb to thoughts like that at times...

Letha Sandison said...

Megg,

I hope all your wishes come true!! You must have more confidence because you are amazing!! I want to read your books!

My wish is that it works out to see each other next month! Am getting ready to shoot you an email :)

Have a wonderful day my friend!!

XO-Leth

Maggie May said...

How brave of you to vocalize (well, write) your wishes given your fears of wishing. I know how hard it is sometimes to admit to yourself what it is you really want, and putting it out into the world is daunting. Your wishes are wonderful. I hope that they come true.

Ali Ambrosio said...

I think these would certainly be my 3 from the "non-selfish" wish list. I hope these wishes come true for you, in exactly the lovely way they are meant to come true.

Joy Eliz said...

I've never heard of wishing on the clock at 11:11. Thanks! I will remember that one.
May you wish for yourself...I think your worthy of it:)

Aithbhreac said...

I think you have wished very wisely!

liz elayne lamoreux said...

this idea of selfishness...from a person who is clearly not selfish...this theme is so interesting to me. i am hopeful that you will realize you can wish for things and still be who you are and not be selfish. i tell this to you because i need to remind myself.

i love your wishes. (and i also make a wish when the clock has numbers that are all the same - 1:11, 2:22, and so on...)

Tammy Brierly said...

Hi Megg, when things get caught up may I have the html code for the Sunday Scribbling logo to put on my blog. Congrats on the success!

It was fun reading them all and more have come in.

Thanks

Claudia said...

Wonderful, real wishes!
I hope you get to go home soon, that´s my wish for you.

Anonymous said...

I loved reading your wishes. I'm so glad you put them out in the universe! I hope they all come true!

Susan Schwake said...

good wishes and lots of positive power!i love the image on the link to your other post. very inspiring!

Patry Francis said...

In three wishes, you managed to say it all...

Jessica Spotswood said...

I'm glad you were brave enough to share your wishes. These are wonderful! I don't think that wanting to write and publish your work is a selfish use of a wish at all. Not when every book helps to shape, inspire, and/or entertain so many people...

papyrus said...

I'd never realised how hard it could be to make a wish. Thanks for your frankness on this.

Anonymous said...

I'd be surprised if everyone doesn't choose health as their top wish.