Let’s make our wishes come true

Oh, how I wish… Not to be a billionaire, nor a superstar. Not an astronaut, a fireman, or an assassin. No. My biggest wish is that I could be a genie and make wishes come true.

Honestly, most of us have a wish-list much longer than a to-do list and it usually revolves around fame and fortune, recognition, acceptance and more fortune. With a fortune we could make all our own wishes come true. But wishes aren’t just in the future.

In retrospect, I wish that I had spent more time with my children when they were small. Trying to build a career, I missed so many of their magic moments: a first step, a first word, the look on a face when they tasted a lemon for the first time, their first pre-school concert… How I wish I could go back in time and make the time to be there, to experience those first time moments, even if those memories end up being lost in time.

I also wish I had travelled more, smelled more flowers and eaten more ice cream. Also on this list is taking more risks, having more fun and watching more sunsets. And of course, trying different things on a menu rather than sticking to the tried and tested. But that’s all me – self-centred as I tend to be.

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Looking back, I also wish I had sent the love of my life more flowers – not just to say sorry for all the things I did wrong, but to show her how much I love her. And I wish I had been a lot less judgmental towards friends whenever they did something I didn’t approve of. Perhaps then they would have been more prone to accepting my shortcomings.

I should also have been much, much kinder to car guards and beggars, done a lot more charity work, put in more effort when asked to write a speech for a teenage-cousin.

Fact is, I can’t change the past. I can’t make all my wishes come true. But in future, I can make many of the wishes of my loved ones come true. I can be more present and kinder – and more forgiving. So can everyone. We are all genies. Let’s start making wishes come true.