MAKE A WISH – LIKE A WISH

What the heart desires amounts to wishes. What manifests from the heart are gifts. Beyond simply a book, WISHES TO DIE FOR reminds readers that life is a gift that becomes most meaningful when wishes come true.

While caring for a woman with metastatic bone cancer, the rug was literally pulled out from under her final days when she fell, breaking her hip and arm. Having resigned to not treat the cancer, she was in the process of putting her life in order. Being childless and the primary caretaker for her husband, she still had no idea who would care for him after she was gone. Aside from the agony caused by her arm and hip, she repeatedly stated, “I’m a goner.” What came true for her was this feeling of doom; fate being realized as a terrible gift. Nevertheless, exactly what wish did she expect from life?

In retrospect, I wanted to throw this woman a celebration that would rival the last scene from the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. Similar to the exuberance of George Bailey, the return from her investment in life might be more than she had ever imagined. I envisioned complete strangers dropping something heartfelt into a hat passed for her. WISHES TO DIE FOR proposes that life is in order when a hat or reservoir of abundance is easily accessible and available to wash away (wish away) heartbreak. I perceive this reservoir as being a wishing well that personifies the heart and its healing presence.

Abundance circulates like water. Daily and collectively, we trickle well-wishes into a figurative wishing well, drawing from it during times of need. Similar to the aforementioned woman, I witness wishes at the end of life being in short supply, amounting to hopelessness instead of fulfillment. Beyond the idea of survival at any cost being in conflict with the potential need for a feeding tube or other life-sustaining measure, what do people really wish to gain from life? Might self-fulfilled promises actually be the ticket to paradise?

Being able to know, declare and document our wishes takes much thought and soul searching; however, appreciating these wishes adds meaning to life. Wishes that are paid forward serve us in the end. I am convinced that living with a full heart is what fills the next person’s heart. In anticipation of the release of WISHES TO DIE FOR, its Facebook page is hosting a contest: MAKE A WISH – LIKE A WISH. I hope to pool resources from lives whose cups have runneth over, circulating an attitude of gratitude for all to feel blessed at the end of life.