At Downsizing Diva, we learn lots of life lessons from our clients; today, we want to share our 21 Wishbones experience. The story goes like this…
Our client was a lady, in her 90’s and our task was to clear the house she had lived in for over 40 years. The project was complicated by the fact she was a collector, an artist, and an avid photographer. Oh, and she also did not want to let anything go!
Mary was working her way through boxes and boxes of slides while I was in the basement sorting through years of her accumulated treasures. As I reached towards the back of one shelf, I found a scrunched-up paper bag and looked in. To my surprise, the bag contained… a bunch of turkey wishbones – with the turkey bits still on them. YUCK!
Now, here’s the important thing… these wishbones had not even been wished on!
I raced upstairs to share this treasure with Mary. You see, now I was intrigued with the wishbones and wanted to find out why she had kept them for so many years. I opened the bag and said to Mary, “You’ll never guess what I found in your basement?” Then, I held a wishbone with my baby finger and asked if she wanted to make a wish?
She looked at me and sighed… “It’s too late to wish”, she said.
“Of course, it’s not too late to wish,” I told her, “It’s never too late to make a wish” Her answer stopped me cold!
“It is for me.” she said with a huge sigh.
WOW! Her answer really hit hard. Why hadn’t she wished on the wishbones years ago? Was she saving her wishes? What for? Why didn’t she want to wish on them now?
To me, a wishbone was the ultimate 50’s “lottery ticket”! When I was a kid, we only had a couple of chances a year to “wish” – on Birthday candles and turkey wishbones, if it was our turn. With three brothers, my turn didn’t come along all that often!
Finding 21 un-wished-on wishbones and hearing Mary’s answer… “It’s too late for me” made me realize how important it is, whenever you get a chance, to make a wish, take a chance and dream a dream.
What are YOU waiting for???
