‘Tis the season for resolutions, or so they say on the gym ads on TV. This year I’m going to keep the resolutions to myself and focus on with my wish list—and it’s a big list and think about, more than any standard resolution, and more fun to think about.
• I wish I could sing.
• I wish I could sing “Dance on a Volcano” by Genesis for karaoke.
• I could sing like Steve Perry of Journey like he did on “Girl Can’t Help It” when he holds the notes “…when they keep hoooooolllllding each-oooootherrrrr.”
• I wish I was in a band.
• I wish I could play drums like Neil Peart or Buddy Rich. I wish I played the drums in Sting’s band during the Paris concert performance of “I Burn for You” like Omar Hakim.
• I wish I could play guitar like Lindsay Buckingham or Prince or Stevie Ray Vaughn or John Mayer.
• I wish I was with Lin-Manual Miranda in the middle of the writing process of Hamilton. (I want to be in the room where it happened) And I wish I was in the chorus performing on opening night in New York.
• I wish I was in that Memphis Mason Temple with Martin Luther King, Jr. for his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.
• I wish I was in the 20th Maine Regiment charging at the Confederate Army with an empty rifle down Little Round Top alongside Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
• I wish I was sitting in his living room while Brian Wilson sang “Surf’s Up” on his piano.
• I wish I could play basketball like Michael Jordan. I wish I could play any sport with his skill, competitiveness, drive, and motivation.
• I wish I was on stage when U2 played Red Rocks in 1983.
• I wish I looked as good in a suit as Don Draper.
• I wish I was hanging out in the garage where Apple was created.
• I wish I owned the perfect mid-century modern home…and a cabin in the woods.
• I wish I was in the front row at the Monterey Pop Festival when Jimi set his guitar on fire.
• I wish I was at my high school weight. Okay, well, my half marathon-shape weight.
• I wish I was as charismatic a front-man as Bono or Maynard James Keenan.
• I wish I was as brave as “Tank Man” at Tiananmen Square.
• I wish I could dance well, or dance, period.
• I wish I was as creative as Frank Gehry.
• I wish I could paint like Rembrandt.
• I wish I could take pictures like Vivian Meir.
• I wish I had the creative power of Leonardo Di Vinci.
• I wish my knee hadn’t given out and I could still run.
• I wish I could run a marathon as fast as a Kenyan.
• I wish I could say NO to sugar and sweets.
• I wish I could box like Sugar Ray Robinson.
• I wish there was peace in the Middle East.
• I wish I helped raise the flag at Iwo Jima.
• I wish I could walk around the United States, especially the small towns and historic places, and meet everyone.
• I wish I could enjoy food as much as Anthony Bourdain did.
• I wish I had a career to win a Nobel Peace Prize or a Kennedy Center Honor.
• I wish I could catch the winning touchdown pass in the back of the endzone of the Coliseum against Notre Dame.
• I wish I had a full head of hair.
• I wish I had dreadlocks.
• I wish I knew who Banksy was and was a member of his crew.
• I wish I had protected my hearing from the drums and all the concerts I went to.
• I wish there was more calm and less stress in the world.
• I wish those that left us too soon, hadn’t.
