Have you ever had a magical pen?
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It is a pen that whatever you write down will come true.
At least that’s what a well-meaning friend told my two sons when we visited his restaurant.
After a beautiful breakfast, as we were leaving both the boys were handed a bright yellow pen each.
The gifts came with specific instructions…
“Be careful what you write with this magical pen because whatever you wish for and write down, it will come true.”
Now I was expecting to start receiving little hand-written notes about Playstation games, junk food for dinner or maybe the cancellation of the chores list.
Apparently not. It seems my boys have far bigger wishes than simple toys and nasty food.
Instead, I was handed a note with three wishes.
The first was to resurrect their grandpa.
They have never met him as he died 25 years ago, but they wished he would come back to life.
Now that was a tricky one.
With this conversation, I took the stance that heaven was such a wonderful and happy place, their grandpa may not wish to return to earth.
I explained that he might have many friends and be so comfortable that even though he loved his grandsons desperately, it might not be what he wanted.
After some thought, they took the rather less palatable approach that his body would smell by now and agreed the wish would really not be a good idea.
Phew – one down – two to go.
Next on the list – they wished for another baby in our family.
This wish was met with a certain amount of horror on my behalf.
Another baby at the age of 46 is not really in my plan, nor, no doubt, in my body’s reproduction plan.
Again I put on the table how much time babies take up, how loud they are, how much they poo and vomit and the expectations I would have on them as big brothers to clean up after their new baby sister or brother.
The look of disgust on their faces said it all.
With a certain amount of trepidation, I prepared myself for the third and final wish…
No surprise there … a new puppy.
Well at least that is reasonably doable.
We agreed that once our dear old dog joined grandpa in heaven, a new puppy might be on the cards.
Stressing of course that new puppies make just as much of a mess as new babies and they would still be expected to clean up.
I have decided to give the two magical pens back to my dear friend.