It could work if I made thousands. They could move around by themselves, helped by the shuffling feet of strangers. Not strangers, really, because everyone is the same. Everyone has stories. Everyone seeks a home; comfort within themselves at least. Everyone has wishing character.

Some fly and circle, hoping to win some kind of game, like a keep away game. I think of a small child running between two bigger kids, trying to catch the ball the two throw back and forth. The small child wants that ball. Very badly. I think of a piece of paper, fallen from my wallet or pocket or bag on a windy day. I try to catch it, chasing it across a parking lot. I need to retrieve it.

Some are dark, like shadows, but they are harder. They have grown thick skins in their waiting and they are hungry.
 
 The path in making an idea manifest often throws curves. I have to reconsider my shape, although I am enamored still by the little objects I sew in the attic. The byproduct of my little shape, however, has the weight which I think this piece will need. I like the way the cuttings float on the floor.

Oh, but my little wishes have treasure! I look for treasure. I hunt for it. I put it in my pocket. I keep it, sometimes with someone's name on it, and then I sew it safe. I capture a wish. I keep a thought. I make hope tangible. I make spells.
 
When I sew, I keep thinking of wishing. At a place in my life where I am surrounded by children, I am relieved and also surprised at the constant and incredibly unselfish gift giving that takes place. Leaving school, my daughter sees a father of a friend who has broken his arm, and she immediately finds (what some might call trash) a twist tie on the floor of the car."This is for my friend," she says earnestly. The father thanks her graciously, telling her he will give it to his son as soon as he sees him. Everything, anything can be treasure, and thus a gift. The gift, then, is a wish of love or kindness or however you choose to define it. The gift would be the same, the wish would be the same, if the treasure were diamonds or a candy wrapper.


The treasure, or at least the essence of the treasure, inside the sewn shape is therefore important. It has the same magic as a rock in a child's pocket. Here, we find something, we put it in our pocket. We make a wish. Perhaps someone gets a gift.