Once upon a time, a beautiful young woman walked alone, peacefully on the beach. She looked out over the water at the vivid orange sunset and sighed, thinking about Isaac and Jared. She wiped away a tear and continued walking. A gleam of sunlight on metal caught her eye and she picked up the pristine blue bottle at her feet. Puzzled, she uncorked it and a rush of blue smoke came and went so fast she didn’t even have time to drop it. She stood, shocked, as a tall spectral being swathed in blue silk stood before her.

“You have freed me from a hundred years imprisonment. To thank you, I grant you three wishes,” he said in a deep, booming, voice.

“I just wish I knew who to choose!” she sobbed, saying the first thing on her mind.

The genie, looking mildly confused, timidly snapped his fingers and erupted into a mass of blue smoke.

Her thoughts were suddenly flooded with thoughts and emotions of Isaac and Jared. She was overwhelmed by the clarity and intensity of it all. Years of happy memories about Jared flashed by her eyes in just minutes and the months of her time with Isaac did the same. She fell to the ground, exhausted, and exclaimed, “I still do not know who I should choose. You did not grant my wish!”

The genie, smiling sadly, said, “Your wish cannot make up your mind for you. It just helps you look at the best qualities from both sides in hopes that it will help your decision.”

She calmed down a bit, contemplating his words. She looked off into the distance and said softly, “I just want happiness.”

The genie nodded approvingly and vanished behind another puff of blue smoke. When the air cleared, he uncurled her fingers and dropped a tiny grain of sand into her palm.

She looked from the genie to the sand. She glared at the genie. “A grain of sand is not happiness! You cheated.”

The genie sighed patiently and stated, “You can find happiness in anything, it just depends on your perspective of things.”

Her brow softened, and she gazed dreamily out at the waves in the distance. She finally said, “I don’t need my last wish. I have everything I need to be happy. You may use that wish on yourself,” she smiled.

The genie looked stunned. He stood there with that shocked expression on his face for a solid minute. He bit his lip and said, “I have been a genie for several millennia, and have granted wishes to hundreds and hundreds of people, and never has someone given a wish to me,” He smiled, with a look on his face that she couldn’t recognize. “I wish to be a mortal man,” said the genie. The familiar blue smoke returned, and out stepped a tall, rugged man; with a friendly face and sparkling green eyes.

“Walk with me?” he asked. She smiled and took his hand as they walked off into sunset.