When I was a little girl, I wished on every eyelash and every star. I'd wish for my grandad to come back home. I was one year old when he died and my brothers, being older than me, remembered him and talked about him a lot. All I knew was that everybody missed him. Every Sunday, we would pile into the car and go visit my Nan and when we did I always got the feeling she was very lonely, even if she did share her bed with a giant teddy bear called Henry! On our way home, we'd pass an airfield, there were no lamp-posts here, so looking out of the car window I could see the stars.On every star I saw, I'd silently make that wish for my Nan, and also for myself, I didn't remember him but somehow I missed him. So every Sunday when we arrived at my Nan's house, I'd search the place top to bottom to see if my wish had come true, if my grandad had finally come home. It never did. But every week I'd wish on those stars again, just in case. My wish had to come true eventually! It was years before I stopped making that wish, I must have been at least 12 years old before I did.
Last year, my Nan died. On the way home from her funeral, I drove past the airfield and looked up at the stars to make my wish. I wished I was 5 years old again. If I could be 5 again, I could have back that unfailing belief. The belief that my Nan would be there next Sunday for our visit. That way I wouldn't have to miss her. It took many years to happen but at least part of that first wish came true, my nan isn't lonely anymore.
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