When I was growing up, I had a large window in my bedroom, with a window sill underneath. The window was the entire length of one wall, and high enough that I could stand and rest my arms on the sill and gaze out into the night.

My window faced the west, and there was one star that shined more brightly than all of the others. I can’t count the number of times, both as a middle-school child, a junior-higher, and a high-schooler that I stood in my room, waiting for that star to shine so I could wish on it.

“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.”

Now, years later, I don’t recall the things I wished for. I don’t know if any of the wishes came true, or if I felt disappointed if they didn’t. I do know, however, that I kept wishing on that star.

Last weekend I was playing with Ella, our 5-year-old granddaughter. We were building a castle with Magna Tiles.

I added 2 triangular pieces on the top row and said, “I wish those were squares.”

Ella continued working on her side of the castle but responded:

“Well, you can wish on a star……… but that’s not going to work. I wished on a star for THREE nights and I didn’t get my wish.”

I smiled that she had come up with a solution for my problem, but it made me sad that she had given up on wishing on a star.

I asked her what she wished for. ” A real tiger,” she said.

Oh…… I guess there are limits to what we can expect when we wish on a star.

The next time I see her though, I’m going to encourage her to wish on a star with me. We don’t have to really believe our wish will come true, but living with the magic of possibilities is something that we should all foster, don’t you think?