The Wish List
I once knew a girl with a wish list a mile long. Her dream house, and all of its particulars, her dream car and all of its options, her dream man and all of his traits, her dream career and lifestyle, picked out shopping cart style. The list was neatly penned with bullets and sub-bullets.
She was 12.
She grew up to be a thoughtful, kind, creative, fun-loving woman, and the list no longer fit who she was. So she threw it away. She let life take her by the hand and lead her hither and yon. She celebrated life but didn't take it very seriously. In fact, though she had a very serious side, no one thought of her as someone to be taken seriously. She was just another fun girl in the group.
It got to be so that she didn't take herself seriously. She dangled along, moving through life without intention -- or at least not as much as she saw in others. Oh, she got ahead in her career, and she met a nice man, and she had a nice life but when she thought back to the wish list of her 12 year old self, she often sighed out loud. Especially as she neared an important birthday.
So, she started another wish list. She tried to be honest and straight forward -- a birthday gift to herself, for herself. She thought about her dream man, and wrote out the most important traits she would like, and the home and the car she wanted, and her career path. What would she have chosen if she could start from a fresh new wish list?
The man was a no brainer, someone funny and fairly sensitive, attractive, and kind. The home would be warm and inviting, but most important her child/children would feel safe and loved. The car would be fun and strong, and have some style. Her career would give her great satisfaction.
And as she wrote her new list she realized that she had all of those things. They didn't come packaged the way she expected, or thought they ought to, and they didn't always bring her the satisfaction she thought having her wish list come true, ought to, but writing the list was the reminder of how good her life was.
She shared her wish list with some friends and had a good laugh over it. A few weeks later, a friend called her and said she had written the wish list as well, and felt much better about the things going on in her life. It seemed as all of her group of friends had tried the wish list, and they were all pleased to see the similarities between their current lives and their dream lives. They all agreed there was room for improvement here and there. They also all agreed that the wish list gave them the freedom to spot the areas that could use improvement.
She decided to make another wish list and use it as a map of improving the wonderfulness she already had and promptly went shopping for new curtains.
She was 12.
She grew up to be a thoughtful, kind, creative, fun-loving woman, and the list no longer fit who she was. So she threw it away. She let life take her by the hand and lead her hither and yon. She celebrated life but didn't take it very seriously. In fact, though she had a very serious side, no one thought of her as someone to be taken seriously. She was just another fun girl in the group.
It got to be so that she didn't take herself seriously. She dangled along, moving through life without intention -- or at least not as much as she saw in others. Oh, she got ahead in her career, and she met a nice man, and she had a nice life but when she thought back to the wish list of her 12 year old self, she often sighed out loud. Especially as she neared an important birthday.
So, she started another wish list. She tried to be honest and straight forward -- a birthday gift to herself, for herself. She thought about her dream man, and wrote out the most important traits she would like, and the home and the car she wanted, and her career path. What would she have chosen if she could start from a fresh new wish list?
The man was a no brainer, someone funny and fairly sensitive, attractive, and kind. The home would be warm and inviting, but most important her child/children would feel safe and loved. The car would be fun and strong, and have some style. Her career would give her great satisfaction.
And as she wrote her new list she realized that she had all of those things. They didn't come packaged the way she expected, or thought they ought to, and they didn't always bring her the satisfaction she thought having her wish list come true, ought to, but writing the list was the reminder of how good her life was.
She shared her wish list with some friends and had a good laugh over it. A few weeks later, a friend called her and said she had written the wish list as well, and felt much better about the things going on in her life. It seemed as all of her group of friends had tried the wish list, and they were all pleased to see the similarities between their current lives and their dream lives. They all agreed there was room for improvement here and there. They also all agreed that the wish list gave them the freedom to spot the areas that could use improvement.
She decided to make another wish list and use it as a map of improving the wonderfulness she already had and promptly went shopping for new curtains.
Labels: aging, dreams, growing up, life, looking back
posted by whimsicalstuff at
10:49:00 PM
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