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Three Wishes

J and I read a story of the Three Wishes genre today. At its end the author asks the reader if they think the protagonists wished wisely or well and "What would you wish for if you were granted three wished ?" J does not know of themes and genres or that she will one day read The Monkey's Paw but her responses to both were interesting.

In the story, Anna and Fritz are a poor couple who struggle to put soup on the table for dinner. The day they are granted the wishes, they decide he will have one, she will have one and the last they will have together. It is past dinner time and they are still mulling over the wishes.

By this time, Fritz is really hungry and wishes there was a sausage to go with the soup. A big bratwurst plops on the table. Anna chides him for frittering his wish away for just one sausage and wishes she could have many more sausages. Soon it is raining sausages upon their home. They grow desperate for it to stop and invoke their last wish. Status quo is restored, they are back to being poor but happy.

J thought they could have been smarter about making their wishes and that it was a waste of a great opportunity. To the question about what her three wishes might have been she said:

1. A house with a backyard and garden full of trees and flowers
2. My grandparents could come and stay with me forever
3. I have a computer all to myself (today she uses mine but has her own login)

For the longest time, she has ardently desired a "real Daddy" and today that wish was conspicuous by its absence. When I asked her about it she said it was not as important any more. She would be glad to have one but it was just as fine to not have one.

When I told my friend K, she said "You should be proud of yourself. You must be fulfilling all her emotional needs otherwise she'd have continued to ask for a dad"

I don't know about that but I do know how J longs for a sibling. Sometimes she will touch my stomach and go "Mommy, I know for sure there is a little baby growing in there that will pop out soon" and I have to dash her hopes and tell her there is not a baby getting ready to pop out, that it may not happen any time soon. She goes away looking crestfallen.

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