Photograph shot in 2024 by our then 5-year-old grandson, Colin
Back in 2012, when we first moved to Edenton, North Carolina and settled down in our sweet, old grandmother of a house, we realized pretty quickly that Buttercup Cottage needed more renovation than met the eye. One of the immediate issues was the amount of water that pooled within the shallow crawlspace beneath the house.
Our new old home was literally sinking into the mud and would meet a sad demise if we didn’t do something to remedy the problem. Along with digging out a deeper crawlspace, shoring up the pilings, and replacing the sill, we added a sump pump to automatically remove standing water. Since the pump was on the front corner of the house, my husband thought it would be nice to build a brick “Wishing Well” to cover it, complete with a hanging tea kettle from which recycling water would flow into the well by way of a small fountain pump hidden in a bucket behind the well. He constructed it, himself, and added a little hand-painted sign reading simply, “Wishing Well.”
A Trick-or-Treater making a Halloween Wish
When we saw people strolling by the house, we always invited them to walk up the little brick path and make a wish. It didn’t take long before the community heard about the well and came by to make their wishes. Every Halloween night, in addition to candy, I hand out “Wishing Pennies” for the Trick-or-Treaters to toss into the well and make their wishes. It is so touching to see how serious some of them take the opportunity, thinking long and hard before making their wishes.
Recently, I came out of the house and saw two young women in their 20s standing at the well with their eyes closed, making wishes. I apologized that the water had been turned off because of the freezing weather, but I assured them it still “worked.” One of them smiled brilliantly and said she knew it did. She lives up north, but always comes to our “Wishing Well” each time she visits here, and all of her wishes had come true! They were grateful that we invited people to walk onto our property and make wishes. Oh my. That warmed my heart. Who knew that a flaw in our old house would lead to something so endearing?
I pondered the whole notion of wish-making and have come to the conclusion that the act of making an “official” wish puts one’s intentions out into the universe. It colors how we see the world and its potential, and we consciously or unconsciously, do what it takes to turn that wish into reality. Famous minister, Norman Vincent Peale, often spoke about “the power of positive thinking.” Perhaps that is what makes a wish come true.
I discovered a poem, recently, by Nina Heyen that puts it beautifully:
Make a wish…even if it does not come true,
the light of your soul will set the Universe ablaze
with the vision of what could be.
Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back now!
(And know I wish each of you all good things this Christmas and always),
Kathryn