Wishes and other things

Moon setting

Wishes of one’s old life wither and shrivel like old leaves if they are not replaced with new wishes when the world changes.  And the world always changes.  Wishes get slimy, and their colors fade, and soon they are just mud, like all the rest of the mud, and not wishes at all, but regrets.  The trouble is, not everyone can tell when they ought to launder their wishes.  Even when one finds oneself in Fairyland and not at home at all, it is not always so easy to remember to catch the world in its changing and change with it.

~ Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Joined together. (Multiple exposures taken this morning.)

What a day!  I was up bright and early, trying to take advantage of the “bonus bytes” we get every month from our satellite internet provider.  I’m not sure why they call them bonuses since it seems to me we pay for them (satellite internet ain’t cheap).  But everybody likes to think they’re getting a little something extra, so I try to buy into the fantasy by getting up ridiculously early for those bonus hours that occur from 2:00 am until 8:00 am.

Evening meditation

I went out for a quick walk while the moon was setting and the sun was rising.  The north wind arrived overnight, and it was colder than I expected.  Even so, it was a gorgeous morning with streaks of pink and lavender across the sky.

Breathing space

The plumbers arrived shortly after I returned to the house.  Then the cabinet installers showed up, and it’s been noisy and busy ever since.  I have to stay close to the house in case there are questions so I thought this would be a good day to take on Cee’s Share Your World — 2013 Week 41.

No message in this bottle that washed ashore.

If you could have three wishes granted, what would they be?

I would wish to get rid of the three wishes.  I’ve read enough fairy tales and stories of magic to know that you have to be very careful about what you wish for, and that those wishes sometimes come with a price.  I’ll stick with dreaming and planning and manifesting, thank you very much.

Little things in the woods

If you were having difficulty on an important test and could safely cheat by looking at someone else’s paper, would you do so?

Absolutely not.  I don’t understand the point of cheating because I want the results to be true.  Even when I play games, I don’t cheat.  No matter how tempting an opening might be.  I do have a funny story about cheating, though.  Before M went to grad school, I went to undergraduate school for a year.  To get in, I had to take the SAT’s.  I knew that I was weak, weak, weak when it came to math.  M tutored me a little, but it was almost hopeless because I kept asking him to explain why things are as they are in math, and most of the time there is no why.  It is what it is, and that’s that.

When it came time to take the SAT’s, I took the advice I’d been given in regards to guessing.  They don’t count wrong answers against you so it doesn’t hurt to guess.  I got to the math section, realized I was way out of my depth, and started just filling in, with the required number 2 pencil, random circles on the answer sheet in hopes that something might turn out to be right.  There was a guy sitting next to me, someone I didn’t know, who was obviously looking at my answer sheet.  Whether he was copying or not, I can’t say, but can tell you that after the test was over, he approached me and said, “You really moved through the math section fast!  You must be good at math.”  “No,” I said, “I’m horrible at it so I made a bunch of random guesses so I could move on to another subject.”  He went very pale.  I’m guessing he did okay, cheating and all (if he cheated), because my random guesses were good enough to get me in to the university I’d chosen.

Sometime last week

If you were invisible, where would you go?

Oh gosh.  That’s an interesting question.  I don’t know.  There have been the occasional instances when I’ve thought or said, “I wish I could be a fly on the wall when they discuss that!” but I can’t think of one of them right now.  Maybe I’d sneak inside one of the old, dilapidated buildings around here so I could photograph it.  Then again, maybe not.  That would be trespassing, and if the building collapsed, nobody would find me because I’d be invisible.

Sunset on oak leaves

Is life what you expected as a child?

No, I expect it isn’t because I don’t think I expected anything in particular of life as a child.  I think I spent a lot of time in the moment as a child, and not much time thinking about the future or expectations for the future.  If anything, maybe life is better than I expected as it’s all new and different and has been filled with adventures.  Sure, there have been the not-so-good parts, but that’s what makes the good parts, well, good.

Sunrise moon-set tableau

That’s it for this week’s Share Your World.  Thank you, Cee.  That was fun, interesting, and thought-provoking.  And thank you all for joining me for a brief walk through the early morning, and the recent archives.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Today’s joys:  A beautiful stroll through the early morning.  A nice, hot cup of tea when I came in from the cold.  A mostly play day.  The plumbers and the cabinet installers.  Watching how patience finally pays off.  (Okay, maybe I wasn’t that patient.  But I tried!)