100 Things, with a twist.

UPDATE: 1/1/09 Marking off completed things as I go.

_______________________________

My list of 100 Things is four years-old (this weekend in fact, ironically) and it is also embarrassingly out of sync with my evolutionary cycle. Things have changed, to put it mildly. While some of the entries are simple fundamentals that are what they are, making me who I am (see #s 25, 33, 59, 71, 89), a few of the others are nothing short of archaic (see #s 7, 10, 22, 47, 54, 78).

In short, I've mulled the idea of doing a new list for quite some time now, but have never quite mustered up the enthusiasm. And then I came across this series of posts by the Mighty Maggie herself, and was inspired anew, but with a twist.

A list of 100 Things to do before I leave this world.

This is harder than it looks, but is incredible in its ability to make you see yourself and your place in the world with fresh eyes and a no boundaries perspective. I highly recommend the exercise to anyone else so inclined.

*Compiled into one list for easy access reasons 4/6/08

_______________________________________________________________100 Things to Do/Be/See/Change/Understand/Learn/Unlearn/Explore Before I Go

1.  Compile a complete family history, in words and pictures
2.  Finish my college degree
3.   Quit smoking - FOR GOOD
4.   Master a form of yoga that's the right one for me and practice it every day
5.   See U2 live in concert
6.   Learn to use my food processor correctly
7.   Help my parents through their elder years with grace and dignity
8.   Attend a writer's conference
9.   Plan (and take) a trip to Italy -Tuscany and Rome, specifically
10. Transition to a more healthy diet grounded in vegetarian principles
11. Get actively involved in fighting to abolish the death penalty in North Carolina
12. Get actively involved in fighting to abolish the death penalty in the USA
13. Spend less time organizing my studio and more time actually being creative
14. Remember to never forget to invest time in reading
15. Read books, newspapers and magazines on tape for the vision impaired
16. Develop thicker skin
17. Find a real, true blue, give & take, honest-to-goodness, live and in person girlfriend
18. Write (and mail) more notes and letters to faraway friends and family
19. Attend a NASCAR race at Bristol
20. Be the best grandma in the history of grandmadom, when the time comes
21. Let my husband teach me to golf
22. Own a log cabin, secluded in the mountains, that I can visit at length, and often
23. Take a photography class
24. Take more photographs
25. Hire regular help around the house to ease the stress and time suckage
26. Encourage my youngest to get on with his life in positive fashion
27. Live long enough to see #26 happen
28. Craft a gingerbread house from scratch
29. Host a family Thanksgiving weekend at my home
30. Take a road trip through New England in peeper season
31. Cheer the Mountaineers all the way to a National Championship 
32. Find ways to stay close and connected with my nieces and nephews
33. Take full advantage of the cultural/educational offerings at our local universities
34. Finish writing and executing our wills
35. See The Nutcracker Ballet live in NYC during the holiday season
36. Help my lovely daughter appreciate and believe in how very special she is
37. Celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary by partying like it's 2032
38. Take a road trip from San Francisco to Vancouver Island
39. Organize our family pictures and memorabilia in some cohesive manner
40. Live in a place where my husband can finally have a dog again (see #22?)
41. Plan a regular girls' getaway with my mother, daughter, sister-in-law and nieces
42. Teach (At this stage of my life, leading Girl Scout troops for at-risk teens is gonna count)
43. Visit the planetarium more often and learn how to use my telescope
44. Grow my own tomatoes and peppers
45. Surprise my love by planning an amazing surprise for his 50th birthday
46. Pay off all my personal credit card debt
47. Figure out how to let go of petty resentments
48. Learn to say 'I love you' in 100 languages
49. Find a Scrabble partner
50. Participate more - across the board
51. Learn a foreign language, logically Spanish, but preferably Italian
52. Knit something from a pattern
53. Undergo a 'What Not to Wear' style intervention
54. Make more of an effort to meet and get to know my neighbors
55. Get rid of/find new homes for all the pointless stuff stored in the attics
56. Wake up a half hour earlier every morning to eliminate the rushing
57. Put myself up for a leadership position in my professional association
58. Take a cooking class
59. Attend a murder mystery weekend at a B&B
60. Find a hair stylist who really gets me
61. Hike at least a small part of the Appalachian Trail
62. Re-engage with my church, my church family, and my spirituality
63. Do something that terrifies me, like riding a roller coaster or giving a speech
64. Go on a real ski vacation - and learn to ski (see #63)
65. Keep old family traditions alive in the hearts of our younger generations
66. Make college a reality for a child who might not otherwise have a chance
67. Journal most every day, if not here then on paper
68. Go to the Bonnaroo Music Festival and be fully of the experience
69. Retire early
70. Reclaim the countless hours of my time wasted watching junk TV
71. Get outside more - walk, hike, play tennis, mow the lawn
72. Spend a night in a Cost Rican tree house
73. Learn to make a perfect tiramisu
74. Collect and distribute gently used books to underfunded libraries
75. Take the time to make eye contact and smile at people, just because

76. Have a family portrait made

77. See Franti & DMB together in concert (ha!)

78. Live greener and more organically

79. Attend the Winter Olympics in a foreign country

80. Dance at my daughter's wedding

81. Party at my son's college graduation

82. Encourage my husband to find his passion

83. Watch a NASA launch, live and in person

84. Mentor a child

85. Compile a family cookbook before all the old, tried & true recipes get lost

86. Take a bartending class

87. Spend St. Patrick's Day in Savannah

88. Have sex on the 7th green at Pebble Beach in the dark dead of night

89. Write something worth publishing

90. Die healthy enough to donate my organs

91. Make a stained glass window, the proper way

92. Feel truly and completely beautiful for one day

93. See the Mona Lisa

94. Disappear for a month, with no ill consequence to other people or their feelings

95. Meet - and have a conversation with - Jackson Browne

96. Learn to sit still without guilt

97. Make my children proud

98. Sip champagne while riding in a hot air balloon

99. Remember that 100 is just an arbitrary number; the possibilities here are infinite

 

and...

finally!...

drum roll please...

 

100. Print this list and keep it close for constant inspiration, all the days of my life

Comments

[Jennifer]

I do like the way you think, my daughter.

I also plan to scratch #20 off my list in the very near future. :-)

[jessi]

I say we cross 35 off the list this year and use it to initiate tackling 41.

[Meadowlark]

What a great list. May I link to it sometime?

[egan]

I like these goals, they range from mundane to serious life-altering events. I think it's great to have such a wide assortment. I can't even imagine there being another 50 to add to this list.

[Aurora]

I hosted my first Christmas dinner a couple of years ago. It was a great feeling. Nice to be in one's own home, even if it is a little hectic.

[poopie]

Mercy hon..you better get busy!

[Marsha]

That is quite a list. Firenze (Florence) is one of my favorite places!

[CGHill]

There are, by some accounts, upwards of six thousand languages in the world. You can hear about 40 of them in Oklahoma: lots of English and Spanish, bits of Czech and Italian, various tribal languages. (Of the latter, one of the most interesting is Cherokee, which had no written form until the 1820s, when Sequoyah came up with a syllabary: one character for each of 86 possible syllables.)

[pat]

Are there 100 languages?

[pat]

I need #17 also...my "best" friend" I love dearly but she is years younger and has lil kids, so we don't relate asmuch....i need a soul mate girlfriend too!