Take Someone's Hand

 If wishes could result in things happening we wanted; life would be easier. Of course, wishes are dreams of things we want to occur in our life. When I was a kid, if you got the bone in a piece of chicken that was a funny shape, you would make a wish over it. When I would get it at age twelve, I would wish for a new dress or a new book. When I was a teen, and got the wishbone in my dinner meal, I would wish I would meet a nice boy and have him for my exclusive boyfriend. At birthday time, for a birthday cake that Mom baked for me, you would always wish on the birthday candles as you blew them out. Sometimes, we are angry with someone and we use wishing in a different way. We may because we are angry about something and we wish them something bad should happen to them, because they have been mean to us or discourteous. We do not wish them harm, just maybe they should have a stressful day and we wish them to have someone be mean to them as they were to us. When I have to go for a dental appointment or a procedure, I wish that the hours would disappear and the event is over with. I imagine how great I will feel because it is past and over with and also, that I accomplished it. I always book these stressful appointments early in the morning. That way I do not have to think about it all morning waiting for the afternoon. In 1999, I had my first colonoscopy and I was scared to death. I booked it for 830 AM and we had to be there by 730 AM. That morning early in the AM, we had a huge snowfall, about ten inches. I called the hospital and asked if my doctor who was performing it, was coming in so I would not make the trip in vain. Yes, indeed, said the nurse, he is here and so is everybody scheduled so far.So we got in the car and we had a hard time the eight miles trip and the worse part, was going up the hill to the hospital and I had to get out in a deep pile of snow, because it had not been cleared too well and the snow was still coming down. That was quite an ordeal getting there, so the actual procedure was not thought by me as being too awful. I did a lot of wishing that morning and I wished to get there in one piece, not to fall in the high snow and hopefully to awake up from the anesthesia. It all worked out and that was one of my most difficult wishes to accomplish. When I danced in dance competitions, I use to wish it was over with. Then when it was finished, I realized that I had wasted a wish because it was real fun and I had aspired to do it and after that initial time, I always enjoyed the dance competitions more. When I was expecting each grandchild, I silently wished it to be here sooner and as the days moved on, I wished even harder for the health of the mother and child. When my parents were hospitalized before their deaths, I would wish that they could come home and everything would be the same as it had been. When we first married, I wished for my own car; it could have been an old one, not pretty, anything would do. My wish came true and I got a brand new one. I hated to take it to a mall, I was afraid someone would hit it. The first night I got it, it rained so hard, I wished the paint would not come off. That was silly but still a wish of sorts. A wish is what you set your heart on, you pray for, you desire, you care for, you hope about and most of all want real badly to happen. Soldiers, who go off to war, wish they come back in one piece, alive and hopefully healthy. This is a deserving wish, we all pray for our armed forces. People in houses of worship say their prayers once, twice or more a day and they say they feel the warmth of their prayers enveloping them all day long. My daily wishes are humble ones. I wish for good health for my family, friends and myself. I wish for prosperity for all of them and great happiness all the time. There is a wish foundation that grants the wishes to sick children who would never get it done. The children are happy that this event happened to them and gives them something to experience, even with often times, of incurable diseases. So here is to the word called wishes. Wishes mean desires, hope and longing. I wish everyone who yearns for a meaningful wish; that they receive the wish completed and need not yearn any longer and that this makes them happy. It is like when our children are crying about something, we take their little hand and hold on to it real tight in our bigger hand and this makes us feel better and they feel more cared for and not afraid. When Mom was sick, I would take her old hand and hold it in mine, so she would know I was there for her. So hold someone’s hand to give them courage and ‘wish’ for them to be better and you too will gain courage and see that wishes can come true. ELITA SOHMER CLAYMAN FAIRFAX STATION PATCH