Wishes into the future

If a genie were to grant me three wishes, I would be satisfied with having only one, my first wish: To be safe, to be always safe. If I knew that life would neither bring me harm nor put me in danger’s path, I would happily walk down any street, talk to any stranger, accept any offer.

What I fantasize about is the safety characterized by Cat Deerbon’s farmhouse kitchen, warm from the Aga and cozy with Mephisto the cat, sleeping on the sofa; by Jill Crewe’s cottage kitchen with potatoes cooked over the fire and the ponies settled outside in their snug stable; by the unhurried Sunday lunches in a Joanna Trollope novel, where time is made for good food and conversation.* 

I read fiction only marginally for the plot; it is the characters I really care about and it is their development that keeps me engaged. Write me a character who is smart and sensible, kind and generous, brave and capable — write me that character, and I am your reader for life. 

In my own real life, however, the plot is significantly more important. The characters I interact with along the way — my family (blood and chosen), friends, colleagues and acquaintances — are crucial, no question; but it is the plot of my life that keeps me moving forward with interest and engagement. At its core, I want it to be safe. In its scope, I want it to be interesting, challenging, rewarding. 

To that end, I use 5-year plans, monthly priorities, and daily logs to plot my way forward. For me, no matter its intended purpose, a plan is always worth making: Even if it needs amending, at least I’ve had a plan to give my thoughts and actions an identifiable shape, a path along which to experience daily delights and to measure larger milestones. 

But, of course, even careful consideration and planning does not make the future known. None of us can ever know what actually awaits us this evening or tomorrow, never mind next week or month or year. We plot and we plan, and then COVID-19 hits and we find ourselves in lockdown, living in a world forever changed. 

So, at the end of my holiday month and in the absence of a visible genie, I contemplate the coming year with an open mind: I don’t know — cannot know — exactly what awaits me over the coming months, but I do know that my own plot includes continued work (secure for the moment, fingers crossed), ongoing engagement with my favourite characters (both inside and outside of books), and evolving machinations for moving myself into my Third Act (may it be safe, no matter the twists and turns of its story). 

* Cat Deerbon is a character in Susan Hill’s excellent series about detective Simon Serrailler. Jill Crewe is the main character in Ruby Ferguson’s stories about children and horses. Joanna Trollope’s novels are about the lives, loves and relationships of ordinary people. 

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash