“It’s 11:11… make a wish!”
Whether you’re superstitious or not, it’s hard to resist that wish minute tradition, isn’t it? Your eyes land on the clock just as the numbers turn to 2:22, and you just can’t help but let a secret desire run through your mind. Or maybe you reach your hand up to rub just below your eyes and find a single dark lash resting on the tip of your finger, practically begging to be wished upon and blown out like the flame on a birthday candle. I mean, why not? You never know!
What I didn’t know was how much the nature of these fleeting hopes would change once I had kids.
Before my girls, my wishes involved trivial topics like losing ten pounds, getting a part in a play, or having Mike Mercieca fall madly in love with me (that last one came true!). But once these tiny ladies entered my world, every wish minute, every lash, and every candle I blow goes to them.
Here are 10 wishes I have for my precious daughters:
10. For them to have a best friend they can’t live without — someone they share all their secrets with, laugh with until no sound comes out, and cry ugly tears with. If it happens to be each other, even better.
9. To watch Dirty Dancing in the sixth grade and feel their hearts pounding out of their chests when Baby says, “I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you!”
8. I want them to devour Jane Eyre the same way other teenagers devoured the Twilight series.
7. To get so obsessed with a band that they learn all the lyrics to their debut album and lock themselves in their room, listening to it on repeat in the dark.
6. For them to experience heartbreak so devastating that they can’t breathe… and then fall in love all over again and realize that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel.
5. To find a true passion — dance, soccer, trumpet, whatever — but something they love and build big dreams around.
4. I hope they march to the beat of their own drums and never let anyone bully them into thinking they are anything less than magnificent.
3. To never be bullies themselves and always have compassion and kindness for everyone they meet.
2. For them to at least appreciate the Beatles.
1. To know they can always come to me with anything and trust me with their whole hearts.
Of course, with only a minute to think of something fast, I always resort to the same wish: “I just want my girls to be happy.”
What do you dream of for your children?
