High hopes

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Source: clkr.com

I love hope. It’s so dimensional. It picks you up at the worst of times. Even when the outcome isn’t optimal. It lifts your spirit.

It’s a dream that could come true. It covers everything from the most important events in your life to the ordinary.

It’s going to a haircut hoping I will come out looking like Meg Ryan. I’ve had that fantasy for 30 or 40 years and it’s never happened. However, for each appointment I am sure my hair will bounce with some curl and I’ll have a twinkle in my eyes. Perhaps haircuts should come with a complete makeover.

It’s watching a movie with your favorite actors. You hope it will be their best ever but you shake your head and ask why you are there.

It’s going to a doctor’s appointment hoping “they” will figure out what’s wrong and have a simple solution. That never happens to me. Mostly they don’t figure out the cause and if I’m lucky it goes away on its own a few months later. In the meantime I keep rewriting my will, requiring those close to me to stay on their toes!

When there is a diagnosis, it’s never an easy one. It always requires surgery. Boogers.

When my mother was ill, there were occasions when she wasn’t lucid and thought it was a different time 40 years earlier. Each time it happened I convinced myself that it was an anomaly and hoped it wouldn’t happen again but it did.

Not all “hopes” end badly. When my old cat Jake was ill, I hoped I’d get another year with him and I did. It was a year full of caretaking but we got to say goodbye to each other with no regrets.

When I was in a totally boring job, I hoped my job hunting would bring me challenge and it did (boy did it!).

There have been times when things looked grim and I hoped I’d make it through the darkness and I did. It’s not giving up.

The unique thing about hope is that it doesn’t go away. I can be disappointed over and over again but I still always hope. It’s in the background waiting for me when I need it most.

My sweet Jake as a young cat.

 

 

73 thoughts on “High hopes”

  4. I’m reading a novel now by Alice McDermott called The Ninth Hour. In it, one character commits suicide after losing his job. His action set me thinking about hope, but also about imagination. Often when we’re feeling down, we just hope that things will get better without any particular idea of how. And that’s fine. But it’s even better to have enough imagination to be able to think of some possibilities of how things might work out and what we could do to change our situation. Even to just imagine that someday somehow you will be happy again.

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  6. Imagine if we didn’t have it? Think of all the people who feel there is none. What a terrible way to live. Even though we may be disappointed at times we still believe. Thank God for the hope of dreams.

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  10. Somehow, I paused on your post this busy morning. Love it. Came right at the time I needed it. (My experience with my long-haired black cat in his final year was such a special time. I believe he knew how much I loved him and tried so hard to make him comfortable when he was so ill.)

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    • Thanks you. I’m glad my timing was good. The final year with Jake was costly, time-consuming and very special (and a surprise because we took what I thought was the final trip and my vet suggested something new to try). I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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  12. Hope is what gets me out of a warm bed when it is still dark outside and go to work at my school. The day I run out of hope is the day I resign. Education is so maligned on all sides, but it is hope that makes educators do what they do. There is nothing more vital to what we do, and it is always a challenge to keep that well replenished when it threatens to dry up and become empty. For me, kids matter most, so I curse the alarm but look forward to the challenge because the symphony of my life is written with the success of my students.

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    • Doug, I felt that way about my job too. I looked at it as helping to align people to what they are most successful at. It sometimes involved a termination because that special job for them wasn’t at the company. Many came back later to thank me. I have seen the tributes from your students and they are lucky to have you. I had some good teachers but none were inspiring. I’m seeing more inspiration today as kids are no longer plugged into traditional roles but encouraged to follow their dreams.

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  21. Kate – This is such a reaffirming post. It reminds me why I love and follow your blog. I would never wish to live a life without hope (both big ones and small ones). I didn’t discover your blog until last year…but your writing makes me feel like I have met (and adored) Jake.

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  24. Love thus Kate! Hope is what keeps us going and brightens our days!
    Had to laugh at the Meg Ryan remark, for I go into the hairdresser hoping for the same thing! 🙂 And I am going to go this week actually. Who knows maybe it will happen this time! LOL!

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  25. Same here. I like to think of myself as a realistic optimist. Even if I know full well there could be a bad outcome that doesn’t stop me from relentlessly hoping for the best. And, if things turn out badly, always knowing “it could have been worse”…family mantra. 😉

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  26. I’m a bit too cynical, I guess. Hope is what has gotten me into lots of trouble over the years. Disappointed. I live in the moment now, and allow hope to simmer on the back burner. If something comes of it, great. But I never get my hopes up anymore.

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  27. Hope is very powerful… it doesn’t change outcomes but it can strengthen us as we face challenges. Btw, I hope you are specific about whether you hope to look like the young Meg Ryan or the older, surgically altered Meg Ryan. Just in case your hope comes true, you may not like the results 😄.

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    • I always like a young look. It’s getting hard to get every day but on the bright side, it’s better than the alternative! You are right about it not changing outcomes but we think if we hope hard enough we have the power.

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  32. Haircuts in the salon are a pleasure, a treat, a wondrous experience, and believe me I enjoy every second when it happens as it’s not very often!
    I am forever hopeful, an optimist of the full order. Even at my lowest, I try to turn thing on their head and make it a positive learning process.
    I don’t know who said it, but I’ve always remembered it:
    My cup is always half full, but even if I saw it as half empty, I know where the tap is to fill it.
    (or something like that)
    Lovely picture of Jake. I remember your posts of him.

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    • If you can’t muster up hope, it’s truly doomsday. Sometimes you need to wait a bit to get perspective. Most people think that only holds true for the big things like job changes or marriage but I got a haircut from someone new last week. The next day, when I washed and styled my hair, I hated it. After a few days, my hair calmed down (or was it me?) and it’s working well. It’s shorter than I wanted but hair always grows and the style isn’t bad.

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