We’ve all had the experience. Something we wished for, fervently or casually, comes true. And it turns out to be not something we wanted at all. Wickeds, tell us about a wish you later regretted.
I’m giving away an Advance Reader Copy of Shucked Apart to a commenter below who answers the same question.
Sherry: I always think perhaps I brought Covid 19 on us single-handedly by wishing for a period of time when I could stay home and grow out the gray in my hair. Here I am eleven months since I’ve had my hair colored and there is still some color in it. Yeesh! The surprising thing is that I still have a lot of dark hair particularly in the back. I’ll be relieved when this growing out business is all over with! And when we can travel again.
Edith/Maddie: I know what you mean, Sherry! Not about the gray, for me, but wishing I didn’t have to think about the trials of traveling and packing (and suitable professional clothes for conferences). I’d give anything right now to be loading up a suitcase and printing out a boarding pass, especially if it took me directly to family. What’s the quote about living in interesting times?
Jessie: When my kids were small I sometimes wished it were more possible to just hear myself think. Now that they are mostly grown I end up hearing a lot more of my own thoughts than I ever intended!
Liz: I remember really pondering this saying as a kid and trying to reconcile what it meant. Of course as an adult it became way more obvious. There have been many things I’ve said this about, from relationships to homes I’ve bought that have been terrible choices. A couple of times it’s happened at work where I would wish a bad boss away only to have them be replaced by someone worse!
Barb: So many are pandemic-related. I used to wish all the time, “I wish the world would slow down. I wish I didn’t have to travel this month. I wish I didn’t have so many things on my calendar.” HA! I am completely done with wishing for any of that.
Julie: Barb, I remember last April, with every weekend booked with author events of one sort or another, wishing I didn’t have as much going on. Like everyone else, I take those words back. I’ve had experiences I’ve wished for that didn’t live up to expectations, but I’m not sure I’d take them back.
Readers: Do you have “be careful” what you wish for example that you’d like to share? One lucky commenter will receive an Advance Reader Copy of Shucked Apart.
I think we all would like to take back our wish to be able to stay home and do nothing but write.
And, Edith, YES. I’ve mentioned that old curse, “May you live in interesting times,” a lot in the last year.
Words I’d be happy never to hear again–uprecedented.
Right now my wish is for my husband and I to be able to get the vaccine so that we can travel to NH and MA to see our families. We have no idea when we will get ours as we are under the 65 age limit by a year and a half. My mother in law is 91 and doesn’t understand zoom. My granddaughters are growing so fast. That’s what I’m wishing for. Thank you so much for this chance. I love your books, Barbara Ross!!! pgenest57 at aol dot com
This waiting period is so tough. Especially, the not knowing and missing family.
A husband. He never truly grew up, even though we were married for 36 years.
What a great answer–though I’m sorry this happened.
Sherry, I know what you mean about the gray. I started growing mine in November 2019 and I still have a bit of brown at the ends. Maybe with this month’s cut. I need to update my author photos and I said I wasn’t going to do that until the brown was gone. Of course, it’s going to have to wait a bit longer than that it looks like.
Yeah, the whole “I wish I could slow down.” I mean for a week or two. Not over a year! I’m pretty sure my 25th college reunion (which was supposed to be last summer) isn’t going to happen. You can’t wear a mask all the time at an event that pretty much revolves around eating and drinking.
I started growing mine out before the pandemic, too. Now it’s simultaneously growing out and getting grayer. Sometimes when I look in the mirror it’s a shock.
Remember wishing time would speed up – to be older, for someone to show up, to attend and event. Now that I’m older, time zips by way too fast. Thought once about wishing for time to slow down. However, I got to thinking that I might be old(er) and very sick with something not curable and here I’m wishing for it to last longer.
Also once thought I’d found the perfect job, wished and hoped that I’d get it. Well, I got it – the job from hell!
Now I don’t make wishes, but rather pray about it. That way I know if it’s meant to be it will be – even if it’s to go down a path I’m not sure I can survive.
Thank you for the chance to win a copy of “Shucked Apart” which is on my TBR list and I can’t wait for the opportunity to read. Shared and hoping to be the fortunate one selected.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
I remember wishing to be older–or at least wishing I could live on my own and drive a car and do all the cool things the adults did.
I came early to the caution of wishing. A high school friend’s mother used to listen to us rant on about the if onlys and wishes of our lives. She once told us to be careful what we wished for and gave us a poignant, but powerful, example from her own life.
I remember wishing I could stay home and write all day. Ready to get out in the world again, thank you 🙂
Yes, please–out in the world again.
It wasn’t so much a wish but something I wasn’t looking for that I ended up falling into. In 2014 a friend from high school was coming up to town from where she now lived. Her son was playing in an invite-only baseball tourney. So we planned to go out to dinner to catch up.
She invited this other woman that I knew vaguely from high school but she was behind us in school and I didn’t really have much interaction with her. But when she showed up at dinner, i found myself smitten. So when it turned out she returned the interest, I was both surprised and what would pass for me as “happy”.
As you say, be careful what you wish for…I now refer to that three month period as “The Disaster”. I won’t go into all the details but you know how it is a rare thing where the guy did nothing wrong? I’m one of them and that’s not just me deflecting. Others who know the details said it to me. I should’ve stuck to that 25 year streak where I didn’t date anyone because breaking that streak was a huge waste of time. Considering I tried again with someone the next year that is now referred to as “The Aftershock” and in 2018 is considered “The Regret”, I have completely withdrawn from “wishing” for any companionship. I like to say that I’ve retired. LOL.
Seriously, this sound like the prequels to the TV show “Catastrophe.”
Living alone, it’s worse when you are in a pandemic and then have medical issues knock you off your feet. Don’t enter me
Yes, it is. I’ve had medical issues this year, so I can imagine.
I’ve been saying that for years, but mostly politically meant. (I’m not a socialist and never will be) but I did say it to my kids…a lot. The one wanted to live on her own, railing at the edict that she had to help around the house and learn how to care for herself. I told her to be careful what she wished for because life on your own isn’t all that easy. At 16 she left to live on her own with the admonishment that she wouldn’t be allowed to return without a job and being able to pay rent seeing as how she didn’t want to finish school. Within months, she discovered independence wasn’t like she imagined it would be. She quickly discovered that no one was going to support her and she needed to find a job. That job wasn’t a lot of fun, but it did give her money for food and a roof over her head at one of her friend’s house. The happy ending is that she learned responsibility and that nothing in life is free, becoming this hard working woman who is very family oriented. She ended up thanking me for the tough love, admitting that she wouldn’t have learned that no one is going to support you while you go out and play..
That is a happy ending.
That’s interesting. My best friend and I used to discuss the Genie and 3 Wishes. I had never really thought about it much, but she had! She was particularly aware of the, be careful what you wish for… She had her 3 wishes down to a practical science. She tried to take into account all the possible ramifications of any wording of a wish. Our discussions tend to come back to me anytime I find myself wishing. I tend to think more on the lines of jinxed statements, of the All we need is snow, said in complete sarcasm, and we have 3 inchs of the stuff. Sigh…
I can’t think of a specific “I wish” that had drastic consequences. I try not to wish.. although all bets are off when it comes to the lotto. I do more frame that wish as a statement, as in When I win the lottery, I will…
I have been debating all month about what to do if I win the HGTV dream house….
There is an up side to wishes though. I practice something called creative visualization. It’s a combination meditation/visualization technique. By actively “wishing” in this way, I am often able to create my dreams. Since part of the process is seeing yourself in the present as you wish it to be, I’m also able to see if I’m headed for an oh no moment. That doesn’t mean I save myself, but I can tweak the wish, or take the risk!
“…tweak the wish, or take the risk!”
Love this!
I’ve been wanting to get a job at my current company for years. Now that I have, it’s turned into a nightmare, first by Covid, and now by micromanaging bosses.
Arggh! Great example, lousy situation.
The only thing I ever really wished for was to get married and get away from my mother. Well, I did. Talk about out of the frying pan into the fire. After 4 1/2 years, I got out of that fire, and married a wonderful man 46 years ago. I was just in too big of a hurry and too young to think of consequences. Of course, there are much smaller things that would be nice to do or have, but I think them out before really wishing for them.
Another great example. I’m glad it has a happy ending.
We wanted a house with old wood. We found a house with a wooden bench seat, wooden sliding doors, and beautiful wood handrail going to the second floor. It had two different stairwells. It also had a stone fireplace. It was all the things I had ever dreamed of having. I did not slow down to realize that a house that size would be expensive to heat. The gas bills were so expensive. My husband lost his job. We could not continue to make all the payments on my salary. My Mom was advancing in age as well as declining in health. We moved in with her. It has been a blessing for all of us. It showed me a few things. Do not jump into a major expense. Investigate before you make a major purchase. Just because it is beautiful does not mean you need to have it.
I guess just wishing I could be a hermit and just read lots going into town once a month for food and books. And now the pandemic makes that wish to real. Not a hermit thank God for my husband.
I always wanted to own a two story house. Now that I finally have one, I am almost too old for it!! Stairs can be a problem!
We’ve dreamed of moving to Virginia Beach for so long, and we love it here, the only problem was it happened so fast it gave us whiplash. In the matter of less than a week, without even having our house on the market, we had it sold and had to scamper to get packed and move our stuff down during the hottest part of the summer. And due to COVID, we couldn’t use the pool at the apartment to cool off. No regrets, but next time, we won’t let anyone push us into doing anything before we’re ready.
I wished to own a vacation home. Though it is still enjoyable, it is a heck of a lot of work being responsible for maintenance on two houses! I too like many of you, wished for life to slow down and not have to travel. Now that the slowing down has been going on for a year, I want my old life back!
There are several of those beware of what you wish for that I have encountered in my life, but the one my husband made affected me most and not in a good way. He always wished that I had larger breasts. Well I finally got them, but it is the other stuff that came with them that was not imagined–weight gain. So you have to also be careful what others wish for about you.