Careful What You Wish For

Careful What You Wish For

Idiom Definitions for 'Be careful what you wish for'

• If you get things that you desire, there may be unforeseen and unpleasant consequences.
• ('Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.' and 'Be careful what you wish for; you may receive it.' are also used.)

How many of us remember telling our parents in our growing up years: “if only I can have this one thing I want, I will never ask for anything else.”  Without exception soon after we got what we wanted something better came along that we wished for. 

One of the things that I remember wishing for was my first car, well, guess what with it came responsibility.  Buying the fuel and maintenance for it, paying for insurance.  Tires, and rims, not to mention tighter restrictions.  Even though I could go anywhere (transportation wise), I wasn’t allowed.

My personal budget got so that I had to plan what I wanted to do for the weekend, because I may not have the flexibility to catch a movie, eat out or go roller skating all on the same weekend.  My friends that didn’t have their own wheels were everywhere, just like I used to be, even if their parents had to drop them off.   I guess if you don’t mind the consequences, it was still ok, because I didn’t know it then (until Happy Days came out) but I was the Fonzi of my crowd.

The same applies to everything in life, try if you can to look ahead at all possible outcomes beyond the obvious because there are consequences to everything we do.  Consequences are also known as side effects (unplanned outcomes), and the worst part is that in some cases, once a decision is made, you cannot get a do-over.

The best is yet to come….

Losing Its Luster

Losing Its Luster

Luster

Noun                                                                    A position of exalted widely recognized importance:    distinction, eminence, eminency, fame, glory, illustriousness, mark, notability, note, preeminence, prestige, prominence, prominency, renown.

Luster is one word that I could think of to describe the level of importance to certain holidays growing up.  Consider that the holidays have remained pretty much unchanged, but in our eyes and mind (which have matured) the holidays are losing their luster.

I totally love all holidays, but number one and number two have to be Christmas and Thanksgiving.  Occupying third place would have to be Memorial Day.  Memorial Day has different relevance to a multitude of people for different reasons:  1) a day designated for remembrance of loved ones that have gone ahead of us, 2) a day to celebrate and recognize and honor our military heroes that made the ultimate sacrifice, 3) of great importance to young people in high school and college; the signal to the beginning of Summer and start of school vacation.  Secondary but also important are the wonderful family and friend get togethers for BBQ’s, and just plain ole catching up.

I still remember being young and looking forward to bed time on Christmas eve, because I knew that by Christmas morning Santa would have come by and left me some presents.  My parents always managed to surprise me and exceed my expectations. 

I can only think of one Christmas when it almost ended up being a total disaster, but instead turned out to be the most memorable Christmas ever.  Check out the post:  Unexpected Best Christmas, http://www.being50.com/2013/06/unexpected-best-christmas.html

I wish I could tell you at what age I stopped believing in Santa Claus, but I honestly don’t remember.  I do know that I had my suspicions about whether he was real or not for a few years, but I didn’t dare not believe, just in case.  After that holiday lost its luster for me, it wasn’t until, I was a married young adult with children before I started to enjoy seeing the same look of amazement in the little faces of my children.

Now, once again the clock keeps ticking, and my babies are now adults with children of their own.  In recent years that same look of amazement can now be seen in the little faces of my grandchildren.  The luster of the holiday is never lost it just gets passed on from generation to generation.  It’s up to people like you and me, to continue to encourage it and keep it alive.  You could even say that as grandparents we would do well to look at Christmas through the eyes of our grandchildren and great grandchildren.  The best is yet to come……..