Family's Greatest Wish

The Best

It was the best of times.

My wife and I and our two daughters are on Disney family vacation. Coming back from dinner, we pass though the hotel lobby where a sparkling fountain adorns the center square.

The four of us stand together in front of the shining pool. Each with a coin in our hand, we shut our eyes; we make our wishes and throw the coins in. I peek just in time to see all four coins hit the water simultaneously. The serendipity amused me—four tiny splashes at precisely the same moment in perfect sync.

I glance their way, ‘’Did you see that?!” They had not. Instead, I caught a split-second glimmer of my wife and two little girls, transfixed with heads bowed and eyes closed, silent and still in mid-wish. And in that flash of an instant, when I glimpsed as they wished, the portrait of my family never looked more beautiful.

The Wish Thing

The Wish thing started at the kitchen table as birthday folklore, nothing more. Standard instructions applied:

"Make a wish and be sure to blow out all the candles. Oh, and don’t tell anyone your wish or it won’t come true. Got it, good!”

Behests were serious. They believed!

The girls got it all right. In a home that was neither religious nor superstitious, they embraced the wish thing with awe and determination. Even as tiny toddlers, their behests were serious business. They believed!

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Then, I don’t know when, the fountain wishes sprung. It seemed the girls couldn’t pass a cascade of water without beseeching Mom and Dad for pocket change to cast a newly minted wish. Pennies would never do; it had to be silver; the bigger the coin the better. My kids were always high-class wishers!

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Wish It Now!

Yes, of course, as responsible parents and serious adult people, we mused the superstition. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful thing to watch our little girls covet their aspirations with faith so pure. We learned some goodness there. So we came to value the tradition.

Thus emerged our family formula for all ages—pretend a trance; but yearn with true conviction.

We taught our kids to never deny their hearts’ desires. And, in turn, our children taught us how to wish again. Thus emerged our family formula for all ages—pretend a trance; but yearn with true conviction.

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And so we do. Call it mysticism or prayer; but our entreaty is genuine and we aim to make our bidding count.

What do you wish above all other dreams? Wish it now!

Brief Shining Moment

Of course that was child's play. It has been been over 20 years since I captured that precious glance of my wife and children wishing at the fountain. So much has happened since. I was long seperated and ultimately divorced. The kids, of course, are very grown up people now; prospering on their own. I miss them awful. It seemed, for a long time, that I didn’t get my wish.

I will always have that brief shining moment. Always.

But oh, how I treasured the act of wishing in that crystal moment. When together with my family, our hearts enjoined our dreams, and the entire world seemed perfect. I have that precious memory forever emblazoned in my mind. No matter where I am or what I do; I will always have that brief shining moment.

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Always.