My wishes for my daughter Lydia

The more I think about it, the more I realize it is next to impossible for a father to write down everything he wishes for his daughter's future in a single column.

I believe a novel-length manuscript would be more appropriate.

But still, my wife has set me on a task and since I love my newest daughter Lydia, I'd better get to it.

Let me explain.

My wife is a quilter, and she is in the process of making a 100 wishes quilt for Lydia.

Simply put, a wishes quilt is sewn together using one hundred squares of fabric sent to us by family and friends. Each piece is supposed to represent a wish for our child, and every square is also accompanied by a written wish, hope or dream for her future.

For Lydia's quilt, I have found a colorful fabric with a Mahjong tile print that represented most of my wishes for her rolled into a visual image.

I liked the fun and game aspect, the strategy involved and both the history and cultural ties the fabric brings to mind. I also hope that in the future when my daughter sees that piece of fabric, she will think of her father and his worldview and maybe it will help her choose her path.

With this in mind, here are my wishes for my dear sweet daughter, Lydia, from her father who is still amazed that her magical little presence has graced our home for the past eight months.

My dear Lydia, the first thing I wish for you is imagination. Without the ability to imagine anything is possible you might never find your true passion, and what is life without passion?

I hope you never give up the dreams you have as a child for something more adult. If you want to grow up to be a superhero, never settle into life as an accountant.

If you want to be an astronaut never ship the stars to the back of your mind to be taken out only at 3 a.m. when everyone else is asleep. Be who and what you want to be.

Flash that brilliant smile you now show so freely so much throughout your lifetime it causes you deep and permanent laugh lines in your old age.

I wish your brilliant eyes will only draw the best people to your side and that you will know them, and hold on to them, when they arrive.

I hope you continue to take the kind of risks you take now, which frighten your father so much, but I sincerely beg that you quickly learn how to turn them into calculated risks so your worried dad never spends a moment in the emergency ward.

I want you to learn how to play poker with the big boys, because I think that in this life you should develop the guts to bluff and call "all in" when the feeling takes you.

I pray that you never become a sucker.

Pay the price. Buy the ticket. Take your chances. Ring the bell. That's what makes life fun.

And ride carousels, but always hop on the jumpers.

Fight against injustice. Fight for freedom. Fight the bullies that abound in our world.

Stick it to the man.

Physicists have proven mathematically that in our world anything is possible. An object can be in two places at once, things can disappear and reappear and extra dimensions abound.

And for you, my beautiful daughter, I want all possibilities. I want your world to be a place unlimited wonder, of happiness and of fulfillment. A place where, simply because you can imagine it, and are willing to work hard, you can have the life you imagine.

In the end I also have one wish for myself. I pray that I'm around long enough to see you take home the prize.

I love you, and as your father who could wish for anything more?



Andrew Gmerek writes a Friday column. He can be reached at agmerek@hotmail.com.