I wish it were a warm, sunny day with the waves crashing along the shore over my feet
I wish my son and I could be at Stonehenge at the Summer Solstice
I wish coffee ice cream wasn’t fattening
I wish my son could have stayed 10 years old forever
I wish it were OK that I was pregnant when I got married
I wish I could immortalize the love I see in my dog’s eyes
I wish my brother didn’t revel in doing Dad’s dirty work to me
I wish I lived a charmed life too
I wish my sister would get over herself
And quit acting like we all owe her something
Because the poor little thing was supposedly so neglected
I wish I could have been a stay-at-home mom too
I wish I had a Mrs. Doubtfire in my life to lean on
I wish my other sister had never said
With her arm around our mother, on the night she got engaged
While she looked me straight in the eye,
“See Mom, I’m going to get married first and then get pregnant.”
I wish I were Shelby’s godmother
I wish I could forgive and forget
I wish I could meet Tom Welling
Even though I’m probably old enough to be his mother
And all the guys on Smallville
I overdose on Smallville every time I watch it
Because I just don’t know who to look at first
I wish it were a crisp Autumn day with leaf piles to jump into
I wish I also had a daughter
I wish I didn’t know how it felt
To sit in a deserted baseball park at 14
Waiting for the boy I was crazy about
Who asked me to meet him there
And then never showed up
I wish there was no such thing as a pedestal to put people on
I wish I could knock my brother off it
With a big rock
I wish everyone knew the truth about him
I wish I could bottle the smell of a camp fire on a cold winter’s night
I wish Michael J. Fox didn’t have Parkinson’s
I wish I could drink champagne
I wish I lived in a house near the ocean
And could drink my morning coffee walking along the shore
I wish I were more like Goldie Hawn in “Protocol”
And that I was the one living with Kurt Russell
I wish cats didn’t make me sneeze
I wish it were the days of Renoir
And it was considered beautiful to look like the women in
Renoir’s Nude, A Seated Bather, Blonde Nude, Bather in the Landscape
Because then I would be considered beautiful just as I am
I wish I could slow dance with Steve Burton and it would end in a kiss
I wish I was half the lyricist and poet of Rob Thomas, Johnny Reznick, Chris Robinson, Adam Duritz, Chester Bonnington, Mike Shinoda, Aaron Lewis and Stevie Nicks
I wish I could stop myself from working every day to forgive my family
Even the two I hate the most
Maybe those two are why I avoid men like the plague
I wish I could fathom how effortless it is for my father to lose his daughter
He really doesn’t care that I’m not a part of his life anymore
I wish forgiveness was a destination instead of a journey
I wish a man could love me like my son does
And the way my dog does
And the way Gramma did…unconditionally
However their love is enough to overflow all my heart can hold
I wish it didn’t hurt to watch “Meet the Parents”
Because Robert deNiro looks so much like my father in that movie
That I can’t watch it anymore
I wish I had footage of when I fell down the stairs
Because even though it hurt, that was really pretty funny
And as it turned out, it was OK
Because “it’s only a flesh wound.”
I wish I could capture the thrill
Of speeding on a sled down a steep snowy hill
I wish Saturn hung closer in our sky
I wish I could ride a comet
I wish the nearest star, besides our sun, wasn’t quite so far away
I wish I never caused those tears in my son’s eyes