Wish list

Ebony, August, 1996 by Laura B. Randolph

WISHES were the order of the day. I was at a surprise baby shower for a very good, very pregnant friend who was awaiting the imminent birth of her first child when the whole thing got started. A bunch of us had gotten together and hatched a daring and unique plot. Instead of giving Donna, the mother-to-be, dozens of cute but soon-to-be-useless-and-obsolete baby clothes/toys/trinkets, my sister-friends and I settled on a bold and brilliant brainstorm: We would pool our resources and together we would buy our friend anything she wanted.

That's right, I said anything - all the mom-to-be had to do was wish for it. After we had played the baby name game (Erica if it's a girl; Eric if it's a boy) and wheeled out the cake (a three-tier, double-chocolate number), we presented Donna with the gift certificate that only we could redeem. In huge blue and pink letters, it read: "This entitles you to anything your heart desires. Your wish is our command." Like the main character in the famous children's story who finds a magic lamp, we told Donna that she was Aladdin (Aladdinola?) and we were her genies. At first, she didn't believe us.

"Very funny," Donna said, shaking her head. "Now bring out my real presents."

But when she realized we were for real - that she could have anything she wished for - Donna was, in a word, overwhelmed.

"I don't believe this," she said, fighting tears. "Give me a little time to think about it."

That's when we all got a little nervous. We promised to grant her wish - "anything" her heart desired. And "anything" meant just that - anything. Including the every-new-mom's fantasy gift Oprah offered her best friend, Gayle, when she was pregnant with her second child, William - a live-in nanny and a new addition on Gayle's house to accommodate her.

Donna may have been struggling to come up with the perfect wish, but the rest of the Sisters in the room had no problem naming theirs.

"A night with Denzel."

"A stop-and-stare face with a body to match."

"A $10 million Lotto ticket and a one-way ticket to Tahiti."

Believe it or not, it only took about 15 minutes for us to exhaust all wishes involving lust, vanity and shameless greed. And that's when thy conversation took a surprising turn. One by one, we started naming what we really would want to have if we could really have what we wanted. By the shower's end, we had our wish list: 1. A heart full of grace. 2. That we live to see a Black woman in the Mute House or, at the very least, that Donna's baby would. 3. To know things we couldn't possibly know. 4. To be able to recall exactly, precisely, how his hands

felt on the small of your back. 5. Panty hose that never bunch or run. 6. Perfect health and perfect faith. 7. To have been there when John Coltrane and

Johnny Hartman recorded "Lush life." And to be

blessed enough to live one. 8. Thin thighs. 9. A cosmic, mystical, religious experience. 10. A cosmic, mystical, sexual experience. 11. Your very own bathroom (to be used by anyone else

on penalty of death). 12. That Patti and Aretha record a duet of "Amazing

Grace." 13. Total abundance in every area of life - emotional,

financial, spiritual. 14. One of those passionate, romantic, never-will-forget-it-as-long-as-you-live

Terry McMillan weeks in Jamaica. 15. "The courage," as Toni Morrison wrote, "to live life in

and from its belly as well as beyond its edges." 16. To know how to hold on, how to let go and how to

make the choice. 17. To talk to the Queen of Sheba about how she worked

her magic on Solomon. 18. A miracle razor that will shave your legs painlessly

and permanently. 19. That love comes just in time. 20. Fat-free sweet potato pie. 21. A sense of justice and a sense of humor. 22. Full financial funding for all historically Black colleges. 23. The strength to accept our present; the power to

shape our future. 24. To understand that being tough is not the same thing

as being strong; that being smart is not the same thing

as being wise; that being shown is not the same

thing as being led. 25. To know our power.

It was an inspirational afternoon, to be sure. Everyone - including Donna - said so. Moved by the moment, she spoke. We all held our breath. "This all sounds great, everybody, but I wish we could start math something a little less ethereal, a little more practical." Donna's wish? The gift that keeps on giving: unlimited diaper service from a popular local company and free come-when-she-calls baby-sitting service from all of us.

Somehow, I think Oprah got off easier.