If…

Earlier this week I was doing some Spring Cleaning which consisted very little of cleaning and more of rearranging the clutter. In reorganizing my bookcase I happened across a book that I had completely forgotten I owned.

The book is called “If… (Questions for the Game of Life)” by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell. It consists of five hundred questions that all start out “If…”

According to the jacket of the book, “If… can be a wonderful after-dinner parlor game; it can serve as an icebreaker between new acquaintances; it can even help you better understand yourself, your dreams and aspirations, and the mysteries of life.”

The introduction of the book goes on to say, “If is the ultimate book about fantasy. Each of its questions is meant to spark and tantalize the imagination. They are a celebration of the human spirit, which loves to dream and needs to hope, but which can also fear and even grow angry. Our ability to imagine is the remarkable gift we have been given to lead us into joy and aspiration and out of despair or sadness, because common to all of us is the idea that there could be a different world, perhaps a better one.”

“And so, aside from the truths that are revealed, the contemplation that is provoked, the confidence or anxiety that surfaces, the self-knowledge that results, or the understanding that might be gained, above all we hope that asking these questions inspires optimism, since no matter who or what we really are, we share the ability to travel together the unpredictable journey of the imagination, which leads us through the wonderful game of life.”

This sounds like it’s right up my alley!

There are 125 pages of this book, each with four questions. I think it will be an interesting exercise to take one page each week and answer the questions as thoroughly and honestly as I am able. In addition, I invite you to answer the questions along with me, whether it be in the comments section, your own personal blog, or just within your own thoughts.

Perhaps in doing so, we will get to know each other better, but even more importantly, get to know ourselves better.

This week’s questions:

If you were to be granted one wish, what would it be?

I know it sounds incredibly selfish, but the first thing that popped into my head was that I would absolutely and without a moment’s hesitation wish for unlimited wishes. And since the question didn’t have any caveats of things you weren’t allowed to wish for, then I suppose it’s a valid wish to make in this instance. I just feel that it makes much more sense to have unlimited wishes than to just have one.

If you could spend one whole night alone with anyone in the world who is currently alive, who would you select?

Again, the answer for this one came really quickly to me. I think I would choose Ellen DeGeneres. I am quite confident that she would keep me rolling on the floor with laughter the entire time. And I bet she would make me feel really comfortable and treat me like an equal as opposed to a fan. On top of that, I think she is very intelligent and passionate about life, and I would hope that some of that passion would rub off on me. Plus, I know she loves to dance, and we would spend hours dancing until we were sweaty disgusting messes.

If you could spend one whole night along with anyone in history, who would you choose?

The Disney nerd in me would probably pick Walt Disney, although I imagine I would be so in awe of being in his presence that I would sit there staring the entire time with absolutely nothing to say. But, were I able to actual muster up some sort of conversation, I would love to pick his brain about the creation of the Disney Theme Parks. I love to read about the genesis of his parks and pour over pictures of the construction and early years of them. It would be such a treat to hear about it from someone who was so inspiring that even to this day his legacy continues to inspire millions to dream.

If you could physically transport yourself to any place in the world at this moment, where would you go?

Again, the Disney nerd in me is popping out and is tempting me to say something like Disney World or Disneyland, but since I’m able to visit those places pretty frequently as is, I’m going to try to come up with someplace else. This is actually a really tough question because there are so many places I really want to visit that it’s virtually impossible for me to pick just one. So, maybe it’s a cop out, but I’m going to pick my hometown back in Iowa. It’s a place that I know I should visit way more often than I actually do, and I think that if I were able to physically transport myself there in a moment, then I would visit my family much more often. I love them to death and it breaks my heart that I don’t see them much even though I put up a front that it doesn’t.

There are my answers for this week’s questions. What are yours?