A Happy Family
Once upon a time, as you I’m sure remember, there was a young family that was very very happy. But then the mother became a bowling addict and the happiness came to a screeching halt. The husband having been given three wishes by an elf wished that his wife would never bowl again and would stay home with her family. His wish came true and his wife developed such horrible arthritis that she couldn’t bowl and it hurt to even leave the house. But the wife was in pain all the time and her husband who loved her very much knew , in his heart, that he couldn’t live with this situation.
Not that he didn’t have help. Her sisters came every day and did some of the household chores. His mother and her mother took turns cooking the meals. The children got to spend their weekends at one grand parent or another. Her brother , who was a doctor, poured through his medical journals looking for some way to ease her pain. In some sense the family had never been closer.
But still she suffered. He suffered too because he knew this was his fault.
So he began to consider using one of his other wishes.
He could have wished her well but she would go back to bowling.
He could have wished everything back the way it was before the first wish but he didn’t want to live that way.
He could have wished for a million dollars then he could have put his job aside and gone with her on her bowling trips. But that wasn’t the way he wanted to raise his kids.
He could have wished them onto a remote island with everything they needed to survive but they would be separated from the family that they loved and that loved them.
So he struggled trying to find the perfect wish.
He had developed wishaphobia , the fear of making a wrong wish, and just couldn’t wish. But every day her pain got worse.
He had to overcome his fear. He had to find the right wish.
Then it hit him. His wish needed to control not end her bowling. It needed to put the family back as the center of life. He came up with a wish he thought could do all of that. It would be the perfect wish. He refined it and changed it until he was sure it would do the job.
Now he needed to overcome his fear and wish it.But the doubts remained.
Wonder if he was wrong.