Making a Wish

Jackson is an official Wish Kid, and let me tell you, the Make-A-Wish foundation is an amazing thing.

We were welcomed to the Wishing Center like royalty.

We all got a wishing token to make a wish in the wishing pond in the back. Jackson told me that his wish was "to be cancer free." That was my wish too.

Then we went upstairs and saw all of the stars from past Wish Kids. Once Jackson's wish has been granted, he too will have a unique star that will hang for him forever. Seeing these stars was surreal. It was beautiful and exciting, but also a sad realization that so many kids have had to go through so many tough experiences to have earned the title of "Wish Kid".

After a meeting, Jackson decided on his wish, and he took his special key and went to unlock to door into the Wishing Tower.

Jackson declared his official wish and two back up wishes and they placed his wishes into a golden canister that would deliver his wish to the Wizard.

Once we got into the room we all got to read our special wishes for Jackson. It was a very humbling experience, many tears were shed during that point.

After we were done with our turn, it was Jackson's turn to make his wish. He followed the lights on the floor with the canister in his hands and found the top of the Wizards hat behind the water fountain. He placed the canister in the cone that turned out to be the top of the Wizards hat and continued to follow the lights on the floor. The lights led him to the bottom of the Wizards hat, and once he placed the top of the hat on the bottom of the hat, the room changed colors, and music started to play. It was magical.

We finished off the night with a ton of pictures, and root beer floats (Jackson's favorite!). Then on the way home Jackson fell asleep in the car.

Apparently for Jackson, making a wish was a exhausting.

I just realized that in this entire post I never mentioned what Jackson's wish was! His wishes were:

1. A Go Kart with a race track in our back yard.
2. A fancy playhouse with a big slide.
3. A game room.

Now we wait to see if the doctor approves his wish, and if the Wizard can grant his wish. The entire process takes a little while, and they want to wait until Jackson is healthy enough to enjoy his wish, so at this point, we think his wish may be granted sometime in the Spring. At that time, Jackson gets to have his "star raising party", where he will add his star to those already hanging in the entry way of the Wishing Place.