“My desert-island, all time, top five most memorable split-ups, in chronological order.” If there’s one opening line I can recite verbatim it would be this, taken from Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. Up there with some of the greats. Apologies Hornby, while I semi-steal your gambit for a beat, for here are my top five, most memorable wishes, in chronological order. 

Britney Spears’ ‘…Baby One More Time’ album to miraculously appear in my Christmas stocking in the morning 

To become a writer 

That my big brother is going to be OK 

To meet a great love: my forever crush and a kind person, who makes me laugh the hardest, who colours in the dullest of days 

My family’s good health and happiness

All of the above have, thankfully, been granted to me over the years. If this is hanging titillatingly on the edge of smug, do not worry, there are plenty that have still yet to come to fruition (a far longer list). It doesn’t matter though, if we are to really pick them apart, the DNA of a wishes is that they are almost entirely good and future facing. Willing something, some mercurial thing, into being.

Whether blowing on dandelions or making daisy chains in her family garden in Florence, pulling wish bones with her siblings with the same enthusiastic zeal as a Christmas cracker, or the annual romantic ritual of watching shooting stars on The Night of San Lorenzo, an upbringing filled with wish-making has been instrumental in shaping how Carolina moves through the world. Full of possibility and wonderment.

The origin of such expression remains inconclusive, steeped in centuries-old tradition, superstition, Celtic folklore, and religion. Ancient Germanic tribes, for instance, treated trees and river springs like altars, viewing them as sacred. In Japan, worshippers can write their wishes on an ema (a small wooden plaque) outside a Shinto temple before hanging them on a wall. For some, these notes to self are a form of private prayer. Or a symbol of protection. For others, it is simply a promise to keep. 

We write lists. We blow out birthday candles and blow on fallen eyelashes. We throw loose coins into the Trevi Fountain and stones into the sea. We wish someone well. For the best. For something thing yet to be answered. For luck.