Sometimes I have to wonder why relationships have to be so hard. Is it that as we grow older the more wiser we become over time, or is it that relationships have become so much more difficult because we have become busier? I often find that for some of us, we pack our lives with so many to do lists. We can forget how important relationships are to everyday life.

I often wish that I could have grown up in a time when my parents lived. It wasn’t that life was much simpler, but that people made time for each other. They didn’t complicate their relationships. People dated and found time to find true and meaningful love. It was face to face, and the idea of making a commitment with compromise seemed much more realistic than what I have seen in love and relationships today.

Although we may have more opportunities than many of our parents did, I often wonder if all the opportunities have truly made us better in building relationships. Speaking from experience, I can meet the greatest guy, only to find that I can’t have the chance to get to know the person better. It isn’t so easy anymore, and I often find myself hurt in the process. We fill up so much of our time with other things. We’ve stopped making wishes and instead we have become just the opposite. I wonder if there is ever a chance to go back to being star gazers again, where we spend more time enjoying each other’s company and the finer things in life, rather than becoming more disconnected from each other. My hope is that what’s meant to be within our relationships, both old and new, is the chance to live with more love and to spend more time wishing upon the stars.

Over the next year, I’m going to start my own wish jar and write on a piece of paper each day what my wish is, close my eyes, and make that wish. On New Year’s Eve, I’ll open that jar and see how many of my wishes came true.