If I Had Three Wishes

If I had three wishes granted, it would probably surprise you what I would wish for.

1. First of all, I would wish for musical talent. I can't carry a tune to save my life. In fact when the kids and I play "Name that Tune" or I'm trying to figure out who sings a certain song and I try to sing it for them, all I usually get is very quizzical looks. They really try to figure it out, it's just that what comes out of my mouth is NOT what is in my head. It's frustrating. I don't want to be able to perform or anything like that. I just want to not humiliate myself on an everyday basis. (I did, however, sing The National Anthem on stage at The Hollywood Bowl, by myself, a few years ago. I bet you would like to hear that story, wouldn't you?) I also can't play an instrument except for a little piano. I think it has something to do with my bad hearing. (Let's blame it on all the ear infections I had as a baby. Every time my mom would take me in for a routine check-up, the dr. would say "These ears look terrible! She must be really fussy all the time. Why didn't you bring her in?" And my mom would say I wasn't fussy. I think compared to my older brother I was a model baby. (Ha ha.) Actually, I think my mom and dad just didn't take us to doctors. I can't remember ever going to the doctor as a kid and I do remember being deathly sick. Once I insisted on being taken to the emergency room and they promptly put me in the hospital. I really wanted to say to my parents "See. I told you I was sick!" But that would have been disrespectful.) Oops, getting off subject. The last part that goes along with this wish would be to fix my rhythm also. Along with not singing, I can't dance either. At all. It's really embarrassing. That's why I confine my boogie-ing to our kitchen, except for once a year when our Stake has a Valentine's Dance, which is coming up next weekend. I think the problem is that I can't really hear the beat. That's why I like the songs with a strong bass beat (is that how you write that?) in the background. So now that I think of it, maybe I just want my ears fixed for my wish. Whatever works would be fine with me. I'm not picky.

2. The second thing I would wish for would be 8 hours sleep. Straight, with NO INTERRUPTIONS! Between the high maintenance 4 year old and our high maintenance cat, someone (or something) is always waking me up. I don't think I get any REM sleep or whatever the restorative sleep is that you need. If I dream, I don't remember it usually, but I don't think I even get to the sleep stage where you dream. I'm working on the high maintenance 4 year old. We're starting to bribe him with treats. A few potential cavities for him vs. sleep for me sounds like a good trade-off. The cat is a trickier problem. If we forget to put her out at night, she jumps on me at either 12:30 or 2:30 a.m. The 12:30 time is almost worse because we usually go to sleep at 11:30, so by the time I mentally unwind, I've only been asleep for about a half hour. That is bad on my poor brain! The annoying thing is that Hal gets mad and yells at her when she wakes him up, so she is smart and only jumps on me. She knows which one I am in the bed and when she jumps she aims and lands right on my hip. Sometimes, when I'm really groggy, I make comments like tell her I'm going to make "cat casserole" out of her so it wakes Hal up and he says he'll take her out, but she's scared of him so he can get her down to the door, but she won't go outside, she just disappears into the dark house and then jumps on me about an hour later. When she wakes me up at 2:30 it's harder to unwind again and get back to sleep. So, basically, I'm walking around sleep deprived all the time. 8 hours, that's all I ask for just a few nights in a row. Once, when Ally was a few months old, we had gone to Ogden shopping the day after Christmas. I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 and Hal, bless his heart, took care of the baby all night for me and I didn't wake up until 8:00 the next morning. I have never felt so good in my life. I felt like I could leap tall buildings in a single bound. I keep telling Hal I need to do that again, but with the kids older, I can't fall asleep that early because I keep wondering what kind of mischief they're getting into while I'm trying to sleep. One day when they're older, I'll sleep. Until then, I'll just look haggard. Maybe the lack of sleep is the root of my adult ADD problem.

3. And now for the third wish: Money. (Surprise!) It doesn't buy happiness, but it gives you options. And it buys security in an uncertain time with 3 kids that I need to help send to college (they already know they have to come up with some or most of it, like I did). And it helps in certain situations, like being able to finally build a different house that would fit our family situation - like Austin would have a bedroom by everyone else so he wouldn't be scared and would actually sleep in his own room and then I could get some sleep, which you now know I need more of. And last, but not least, you could (if you wanted to) help others with it, which I would love to do more of on a larger scale.

And that's what I'd do if I had three wishes. Just so you know, I thought about it last night while I couldn't sleep!

(Oh rats. I just thought of a fourth wish. I really, really wish I still had the hair I had in my 20s. It was so great I should post a picture here to make you all jealous.)