Advice to a Daughter - from my Mom Hat

"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be." - Clementine Paddleford

Oh my daughter, how many times have I heard you start a sentence with the words, "I wish..."
I wish I was pretty.
I wish I had a boyfriend.
I wish I didn't have to go to school anymore.
I wish I had more money.
I wish we lived in a bigger house.
I wish I had a laptop.
I wish I had an Ipod.
I wish I had 200 hoodies.
I wish I was older.
I wish I could make my own rules.
I wish you would leave me alone.
I wish
I wish
I wish

There are more ways to make a wish than there stars in the sky or fish in the sea. 
Blow the fluff off a dandelion
Wish on the first star of the evening
Wish on a falling star
Blow out your birthday candles
Blow an eyelash off a friend's finger
Coins is a wishing well
Blowing a ladybug off your finger
Using a wishbone

All of these are fine, wonderful ways to daydream about your future and the wonderfulness that it will hold, however, if all you ever do is wish, you will find your life full of empty dreams and unfulfilled desires.

Wishes are a great way to start along a path toward a goal, but wishing alone is not enough.  Begin with a wish but add determination and effort to fulfill these wishes.  If you wish school was over, then work harder at school so you can pass well, find success and put your knowledge to work for you forging a future you have planned out.  If you wish you were pretty, look in a mirror and find all the lovely things about you.  Then look within yourself and find all the truly beautiful things that make up you.  If you wish you could make your own rules, come and discuss rule changes with me in a mature, well thought out way and you might be surprised with the result.  If you wish we lived in a bigger house, work toward a good education in a field that pays handsomely and you'll be able to have the house of your dreams.

Now please do NOT think I am telling you to stop wishing.  I hope you never stop wishing.  Wishes are great.  Wishes are awesome.  Wishes are absolutely nexessary.  Some wishes should be whispered in the wind and dreamed about on a soft summer night.  Some wishes should be put right up front in a place of importance to hold your focus.  They should be the thought that makes you crack open a book, the motivation to go out on a snowy day to shovel sidewalks for tips, the reason you get up off the couch and go for a run.

A wish that remains a wish can be a lovely half forgotten memory of childhood innocence.  A wish that is shaped, worked, molded and owned can conquer mountains.

 

Take your wishbone and your backbone and make them one.  Strong in determination and driven toward a goal that is wholly and uniquely your own.  Climb your mountain, my daughter; I think you might be amazed with what wishes you can make come true without waiting for a fairy godmother and her magic wand.