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I’m 37. I’m a happy 37, but 37 nonetheless. This means I’m 2.5 years away from being 40. I’m typing these things out loud because I just can’t believe it’s true. I swear to god I was just 10 years-old running around outside playing kickball at all hours of the day and night with my friends. I just learned how to drive with Mr. Bailey in the back seat, hands over his eyes. Wasn’t that just yesterday? No. It wasn’t. But it sure feels like it.
I’ve accomplished a lot in my career and I couldn’t be more blessed with family, but I’m realizing lately that there is still a lot more I want to do. A lot more I want to accomplish. Some of these things are extraordinary – they require planning and goal setting and a focus that, thus far, I haven’t been able to muster. Some of them are less so – some are things I could do right now if I were to decide that today is the Day. I feel the need to gather these ideas and dreams and pin them to my shirt.
I was inspired by this post from Gwen Bell (whom I don’t know personally, but the internet thinks she’s lovely), to get started on my Personal Manifesto. Among other things, she suggested making a Life List, the most famous of which is probably Maggie Mason’s. So, here’s my first attempt – my rough draft of ideas…
1. Host an amazing dinner party for friends old and new.
2. Own a home on a lake where friends and family are always welcome.
3. Travel to Paris alone.
4. Take kids to Washington D.C.
5. Live year round on Mackinac Island.
6. Write a young adult novel.
7. Run a marathon.
8. Vacation in Big Sur.
9. Take a cross country family road trip.
10. Take the kids to Europe.
11. Save $25,000.
12. Write an essay and have it published.
13. Find an opportunity to volunteer.
14. Eat sushi.
15. Teach the kids to snow ski.
16. Teach the kids to water ski.
17. Take a week long bicycle trip along Lake Michigan.
18. Camp at Sleeping Bear Dunes.
19. Learn to change a tire.
20. Throw a big party for someone who deserves it.
Wow, this is hard…I think I’ll do 20 at a time….
Do you have a Life List? Would you share some of your ideas in the comments, pretty please?
I have a hard time keeping up with all the funny stuff that Wixi says in the course of a day. There are scraps of paper laying all over the house with random thoughts, ideas and opinions confidently stated in the way that only Kindergarten kids can muster. His latest observation came when I asked him to push me on a swing at the park. After a couple of pushes he said very seriously, “You are a heavy woman.”
