wishing on stars, opening doors, and such

It's nice to see wishes grow up, manifest themselves into tangible things, become solid.

Early last Saturday morning, I was painting the walls in my hall a bright minty green (more minty than I intended) and ruminating on what I should do - and by that, what I mean is thinking about writing writing writing, quandaring about it. When the fed-up depths of me yawned and said, "Really? Where is the quandary here? Just devote each second you can to it and stop all this fuss." To which the sometimes-more-rational me said, "You're right. I should just trust, commit and plow forward."

And with that I put down the brush and plodded off to make a cup of tea while the first coat of mint paint dried. Once seated and sipping, I clicked through the New York Times and then on over to The Wednesday Chef. She hasn't written much lately, but to my pleasure, there was a new post. And not only was it new, it was fresh - usually I arrive to find her posts at least fifty comments old, but this one had none. And not only was it fresh, its topic was about something more existential than food. It was about wishes... and disappointment... and yearnings...and life. I read the post on that quiet morning with the same exhilaration and elating wonder as it feels to look out over new fallen snow.

If I've piqued your interest, here's some back story for those of you who aren't food blog addicts. The Wednesday Chef a.k.a. Ms. Luisa has had a crazy year. A bout of depression, then a surprise engagement in SF - which momentarily cheered her up, followed by the demise of her relationship to her fiancee and their subsequent break up, which seemed to leave her worse off than before.

As she persevered through these highs and lows, Luisa shared her cooking adventures by night, and worked as a food editor by day. She occasionally talked of her work with food writers and photographers, but of course, those who read her blog knew all along that what she really wanted to do was write - simply just be a writer, rather than edit all the thoughts and recipes of others.

Now, with all that in mind, you may proceed to read the post for yourself here. It's lovely and inspiring.

And the fact that I was the first to comment? Well, I trust quite a bit in serendipity, and it was certainly an appropriate punctuation to my own rumination. As I said, it's nice to watch wishes grow up... and sometimes they need a pinch of borrowed starter to get them to do just that.

P.S. Luisa changed the picture on the post from the one that was there when I first found it. Now it's a tree with picnickers underneath, but before, it was the picture of a card on a shelf that somebody had sent her... who knows when. I quite liked it better, for the card read:

"Your journey has molded you for your greater good, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Don't think you've lost time. There is no short-cutting to life. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the now. And now is right on time." -Asha Tyson

(My tree picture is a painting by Magritte.)