There may be no better place to usher in the new year than Tampa Bay’s most famous ficus, the Dalì Museum’s “Wish Tree.”
A wish, as opposed to a resolution, carries a hopeful ring. Where resolutions tend to the self-flagellatory (“I will lose 25 pounds” is just another way of saying “I’m too fat”), wishes are more outwardly directed, and don’t necessarily require any extra work on your part.
The Dalì’s tree invites you to give form to your hopes. You write a wish on your museum admission armband or say it silently to yourself, tie the armband to one of the ribbons dangling from the ficus branches, and presto! Your wish is now out in the world.
The history of the tree is itself a hopeful thing, a tribute to hardiness. Uprooted by a storm in South Florida in 2010, the tree was transplanted to St. Pete for the new Dalì Museum’s opening, and has since been knocked down by winds multiple times (including the winds of Irma) only to be shored back up again.
The Dalì’s Heather Drake is “the unofficial keeper of the wishes” (her official title is group experience manager). Museum gardeners periodically collect the armbands from on and around the tree, and Drake keeps a record of wishes that are still legible because “we don’t feel they should be tossed.” Many of the messages are related to veterans (you can spot them by the red, white and blue striped ribbons), which is one reason the museum holds an annual reading of selected wishes on Veterans Day.
On the Friday before New Year’s, few of the visitors wandering through the Dalì’s Avant Garden knew of the tree’s history or the meaning of its colorful adornments. But once they were told, they happily tied one on.
Paul Keefer, a chemical engineering student in North Carolina and a St. Pete native, was with his mother, Judy Fairchild, who lives in Largo, and his girlfriend, hairstylist Abbie Storey. He’s a vet, but his wish was romantic, not military (if a bit lockstep in its language):
“I wish that Abbie and I would grow together and she would fall in line with all my ideas for the relationship.”
Out of earshot of Paul, Abbie related her wish in more simple terms: “I wish that he’d hurry up and propose.”
As for Mom, hers was a wish that many families were making last weekend, when dangerous winter weather was making travel treacherous: “My wish is that they make it home safe and sound.”
Jennifer Van Horn and Lindy Davis, friends and teachers at Barrington Middle School in FishHawk Ranch, were on a museum scavenger hunt with their children, 10-year-old Brooklynn Van Horn and Lindy’s son Sebastian. Brooklynn tied her wish to the tree but didn’t want to say it out loud; nevertheless Sebastian spilled the beans, giggling: “She wants a squirrel!”
Her mother’s wish was more in the self-improvement realm: “I’m wishing my 21-day fast in January will give me clarity.” She explained that the “Daniel Fast” is based on experiences of the Biblical prophet Daniel, and that it forbids, among other foods, grain, dairy, processed meats and alcohol.
Another teacher, Michelle Moore (Phys Ed, K-8), was visiting from Michigan with her niece, high school freshman Katelyn Moore. Formerly of Kissimmee, Michelle reached high up in the branches to affix her wish. Her explanation was simple, but spoke volumes:
“My dad’s been sick.”
The wishes transcribed by Heather Drake range, as these visitors’ did, from celebratory to heartbreaking, from silly to profound (see below).
Sometimes they even come true.
“A woman from Germany made a wish that she’d meet her true love,” says Drake. Sure enough, when she got back to her home country she did meet a man — from St. Petersburg. Now they’re married.
The bride is pretty sure the Dalì’s tree of wishes had something to do with it.
