Be careful what you wish you, you just might get it.  When I first heard that phrase all I thought was, “Well if I’m wishing for it of course I want it!”  But have you ever wished for it, got it, and then, surprisingly, it wasn’t what you thought you wanted?  I know I have.  Let me share with you a wonderful example of this.

My story begins in a lovely hall where a gathering (a gaggle?) of women has accumulated.  They are there to celebrate with the bride-to-be.  It is her bridal shower.  The hall is decorated festively.  There is lots of food and drinks and tonnes of good company.  Oh, what is that at the front of the hall?  Why, it’s an assortment of fun games for the women to try their luck at and maybe win a prize.  Guess the age of the bride in various photos.  Guess the spice in the jar (no smelling).  How many candies in the jar?  A lovely collection of amusements for the ladies.

Did I mention that there were children there?  Well, there were.  A gathering of pretty little girls, in their pretty dresses and shiny shoes…tearing around the hall, very unlady-like and loving every minute of it.  Amongst this congregation was a little 4 year old girl who had spied the candy jar.  The glass jar was right at her eye level.  As she was running by the table, the jar twinkled in the sunlight and caught her lovely, brown eyes.  She stopped.  She ogled the jar and wished to have the candy inside it.  She ran back to her mother to see if she could have one of the sweet candies.  Her mother kindly explained about the counting game.  “The person who guesses the number of candies in the jar gets to keep the jar and the candies.”  The little girl’s eyes widened as she wondered who would win this coveted treasure.

As the buffet lunch ended and the desserts and coffee were brought out, there were other games that were played by the women.   The hall was filled with noises of happy chatter and loud laughter.  The little 4 year old girl kept busy, running around and playing with her friends.  Time passed.  The moment had finally arrived to announce the winner of the candy jar.

“And the winner is…” rang out the voice of the Maid of Honour.  The little girl stopped to look around and see who was going to get this best of all possessions.  A thin lady with blonde hair at the back of the room stood up as the cheering and clapping escalated.  The little girl then headed over to see her mother.

“Mommy,” she began, “can I have one of those candies now?”

“No, those candies belong to that lady,” replied her mom, “they don’t belong to us.”

“But I want one,” murmured the little girl, her face frowning.

“Well,” began her mom, “if you really want one, you can go over there and nicely ask the lady if you can have one.”

The little girl looked up pleadingly at her mom.  “You go ask her,” muttered the little girl.

Her mother shook her head.  “I don’t want any candy.  If you want one, you go over there and nicely ask the lady if you could please have one,” the mom said gently.

The little girl started walking briskly away.  She reached the halfway point, stopped and looked apprehensively back at her mother.  Her mother slowly nodded.  The message was implied: “You can do this!”  The child turned about to continue on her mission.  She jutted out her chin.  There was a new determination in her walk.  After several stomping steps she reached her destination.  Her shoulders sagged.  The lady with the candy jar looked strangely at the child as the little girl just stood there.  Finally the woman’s head slowly bent down.  The little girl had begun to speak.  Would she be triumphant?

Our group of anxious women had waited with bated breath and were happily rewarded when we saw the lid of the glass jar being raised and the jar being tilted toward the brave youngster.  There was a loud exhalation at our table as we watched the triumphant return of the wee one and her newly acquired gem.

“You got it!” we shrieked and hollered in victorious voices.  Her wide grin went from ear to ear.  She held out her hand to show us her new prize.  After that, it was time to enjoy her spoils.  Up went her infant hand to her mouth and the candy treat disappeared.  Oh happy day!

Suddenly, her face became pinched.  Her brows furrowed.  Something was NOT quite right.  The little girl turned slightly in her seat to look pleadingly at her mother.  Her jaw dropped and the hard-won sweet dropped to the table.  She shed no tears as she quietly said, “spicy”.   That whispered word had someone immediately bring her some cooling watermelon for her cinnamon-tainted tongue.  Yes, the craved sweet she had worked up the nerve to acquire was none other than the super hot cinnamon heart candy.  Ouch!

I see life lessons in the smallest and simplest of situations.  In this case, I saw before my eyes the perfect example of Be careful what you wish you.  You just might get it.  She saw the candy.  She wished to have the candy.  She got the candy.  It was definitely NOT what she had wished for.  She would’ve preferred a sweet treat.

I find that our adult lives are like that too.  We wish for better paying jobs, fancier cars, bigger homes, etc.  Sometimes our wishes come true and they are better than we had hoped.  Other times, we get our wish, but then disaster soon follows.  Better paying job?  Horrible work conditions.  Fancier car?  Worse fuel mileage.  Bigger home?  Higher heating/cooling bills and more cleaning time.

Just remember, be careful what you wish for…you just might get it.