by Melissa Knight

Created on: November 06, 2008

The other night, my four year old and I were outside walking the dog. The air was crisp and clear and my daughter looked upon the sky with the wonder that only a four year old can muster. Before I knew it, we were both lying on the cold ground, looking up at the sky.

As I often do during these moments, I prattled on with my daughter about things that matter only to us. Both of us were immensely enjoying our conversation regarding our imaginations when my little one asked me about wishing stars. I explained to her that wishing stars were the ones you would sometimes see that looked like they were falling out of the sky. My knowledge for all thing mythical and magical has grown considerably since the birth of my children. With each child has come a new awareness of Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, as well as fairies of any kind, so of course I am well aware of wishing stars. I told her that as soon as she saw one, she was to close her eyes and make a wish and not tell because then it might not come true.

When after a short time we had the good fortune of seeing a shooting star, we fell into an awed hush; it was if we'd seen Santa Clause himself. With a sense of urgency I hadn't know I'd felt, I squeezed my eyes shut and feverishly made a wish. Finally after we'd both sat silently for a moment or two, my little girl said, "Mommy?"

"Hmmm?"

"Did you see that?" She asked.

"I did,"

"What did you wish for?"

I turned to her and began tickling her, telling her that we weren't supposed to tell. The two of us giggled and guffawed there on our lawn and for the first time in a while, I felt the magic of being a child again.

Maybe it was the idea of wishing on a star that had done it for me (I am still clinging to the belief that my wish will come true), or maybe it was the magic of hope. Most likely, it was the hope of the wish coming true that had lifted my spirits in such a way because, like a child, I was certain that my simple little wish would finally be heard.

This is why we wish. We all do it. We make wishes when we toss a coin into a fountain, when we see a shooting star, when we hold our feet up in the car going over railroad tracks. We wish because we hope. Wishes are the way that people convey their hopes that can't quite be dreams, because we have no idea how to make them come true. So we toss them to the Gods of Wishes and hope they heard us loud and clear.

Wishes are a moment of self-centeredness in a world that requires us from a very early age to focus on others almost all the time. They 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.

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