The List
October 9, 2009
I never did complete my forty before forty list. Too ambitious? I lost interest? It is hard to say.
Then Maggie did a brilliant life list last year and has been working through many of the items.
Other people made their life lists and I thought, why not revisit my forty before forty list and revise. I have been thinking about it quite a bit. What are the things that I want to do. And I really don’t know. These days I feel as if I am sort of going through the motions of life, but not really taking much joy in it. I don’t mean to sound morose, because that certainly isn’t how I intend it. I am not going about my days downtrodden and miserable. I just think that it is easy to get caught up in the mundane tasks of everyday life: laundry, cooking, picking the toys up off the floor, finding everyone’s DAMN SOCKS. Sometimes you just need to shake yourself.
So here is my list, a work in progress. It is heavy on travel. It has always been a dream of mine to take a year off from life and travel around the world. Not sure I’ll ever be able to do that, unless I win the lottery. And I should probably start buying lottery tickets then.
1. Buy a lottery ticket
2. Learn to knit
3. Take a mule ride down into the Grand Canyon with my kids, like the Brady Bunch
4. Redesign my mother’s ring and have someone make it.
5. If it isn’t beautiful or useful, get it out of my house. Thankfully my children are beautiful.
6. Dublin with Heather and Susan
7. Carnival with Heather
8. Ride on the back of a motorcycle
9. Write a book or two
10. Scuba Diving at the Great Barrier Reef
11. See the Northern Lights
12. Fjords of Norway
13. Stand on the Great Wall of China
14. Visit all 50 states
15. Hold my newborn grandchildren (many,many, MANY years from now)
16. Chile
17. Make my home a warm, inviting place
18. Own a little beach house
19. Visit a winery, in Napa
20. Take a BBQ road trip across the U.S in an RV
21. Figure out what I want to do when I grow up
22. Float on my back in the Red Sea
23. Sleep in a castle
24. Get lost in a corn maze, but not so lost that I am never found again. I have this sort of irrational fear of corn mazes… Children of the Corn anyone
25. Touch a glacier
26. Run down a sand dune
27. Spend a summer in Italy, take a gondola ride, eat gelato
28. Paint more often
The list seems incomplete. It is. Some things seem so big I am not sure I can articulate them. Some I am not certain about. I want to leave room, a margin around my list, a place to jot the things I never knew I wanted to do until they were there, presented to me.
This weekend in Napa is one of those things. I have always wanted to go. But did I ever imagine I would get to go with a group of women I am lucky enough to call friends as well as women I have adored from afar? Nope, not in my wildest dreams.
And since I am leaving in less than 12 hours, I should probably find some pajamas. Last time I shared a hotel room with Melissa and Susan in Chicago last year I forgot pajamas and had to sleep in underwear. Melissa is still traumatized.
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Sounds awesome! Love the list…Have fun in Napa!
October 9th, 2009 at 1:52 amMy home is open to you when you make it to Italy. I mean that. We are less than one hour from Venice. If you bring the kids, they will need sleeping bags! (We don’t have enough beds.)
October 9th, 2009 at 2:10 amDear Chris,
I have been following your blog for the last 3 years - when my 2 kids and husband were first based in Ottawa/Canada, and now from Beijing/China. I always find your posts very interesting. They make me smile, laugh, react - and I am always amazed at how much I recognize some parts of my own thoughts and my own life. Anyways, all this to say that if ever you plan on checking out #13 - stand on the Great Wall - from your list, you are more then welcomed for a glass of wine (or two… or three…) at my house in Beijing!
October 9th, 2009 at 5:32 amDublin, Ireland??
October 9th, 2009 at 6:01 amI am 36 and am going to hold my first Grandchild in 5-ish weeks, God willing.
Love list like these!!
Best wishes.
Chris,
If you ever did manage to come to Australia I would love if you were able to come to Perth, down in the South West of Western Australia is an area called Margaret River and has a lot of Wineries you could tour. I also grew up in South Australia (my parents still live there), and when my Husband and I first got together we lived on the outskirts of the Barossa Valley, which is World Famous for it’s wines, they tend to be more Germanic which I think are so much nicer and more drnkable than French Wines.
You will absolutely love Dublin (if you are talking about Dublin Ireland), that is where my husband is from and where we got married, infact the whole of Ireland is fantastic.
I hope you get to do ALL that you have on your list and MORE.
If you want to learn to knit, let me know here to e-mail you and I will chat to you about it.
Take Care
October 9th, 2009 at 6:31 amLots of Love Carolynn xxxx
LOVE your list!!! Great start. Mine would have many of the same things on it, except the motorcycle part (hubs has a few) and the corn maze…. we grow 440 acres of corn, lol. Next year is our 15 anniversary and we are planning a cruise with the kids…..can’t wait!!!!
October 9th, 2009 at 6:33 amHeh, I don’t even OWN pajamas. Tees or tanks and undies if someone might see me.
Um . . . I’ve done 3 of the things on that list, whee! Have an awesome time in Napa.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:34 amDublin is good. You should go to an area called the “temple bar”. If you want beautiful scenery, go to the west coast and maybe the north side of the isle.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:44 amMy vote goes to number 9 yes i am going to comment again that you need to write two books
a book of pictures and a book about life/children
waiting to buy
and have a great time doing #19 lift a glass or two for me
October 9th, 2009 at 8:15 amHave a great Napa weekend! I used to live in CA and we loved going to Napa. I’m up in the DFW area and have a great custom jeweler to recommend if you get serious about redoing your mother’s ring. It would be a little drive for you, but that’s part of the adventure, too. Though I don’t see “Drive to DFW” on your list.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:26 amI like this list, dreamy, attainable and still open for revision. I think that is really the key -having a flexible ever changing list.
Enjoy Napa.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:28 amWhen you return, you WILL share with us the locations in Napa???? Please??? (We’ll be there - for the third time - next summer and we’re fearful that we might miss something fantastic.)
October 9th, 2009 at 8:35 amIf you’re feeling reallt ambitious, you could join me on a “101 in 1,001″ project. You pick 101 things you want to do in the next 1,001 days…
http://sincerelyjenni.blogspot.com/2009/09/101-in-1001.html
October 9th, 2009 at 8:36 amAh, very good! I’ve done the easy ones of those - lotto ticket, knitting, and mother’s ring (except mine was my grandmother’s). Oh, and Napa! My husband has a mozormichael (what the 2-year-old calls it) but I haven’t ridden on it yet on account of being knocked up when he got it.
I’m taking a “career focus” class through work next week. I wonder if we’ll get to make a life list. Probably not.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:38 amI wholeheartedly agree with leaving space in the margin to fill in the stuff that you didn’t even realize you wanted to do! My “list” is far from complete but my margin is full of wonderful things/events/people that represent exactly what you describe.
Seredipity! My favorite word.
October 9th, 2009 at 8:45 amMy birthday was Wednesday and I created a 30 before 30 list. So many things I want to do. I did totally taste Gelato for the first time yesterday. But I guess because it was from Subway so it doesn’t count as real.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:28 amYou inspired me several years ago to make my own list, but since I am slow and unambitious, I made mine 50 before 50. I even started a blog about that list but I haven’t posted on it a lot
I think it’s a brilliant idea and I cheer ya on as you knock out the dreams on your list!
October 9th, 2009 at 10:21 amGreat life list! Some day I’ll make one. That is when I am not finding DAMN SOCKS either. Or making lunch. Or more lunch!
Have a great weekend in Napa. I will have my own blissful weekend playing go in the Catskill Mountains with a bunch of very good friends. And yes, it means I should be packing right now, but so far I have packed two pieces of underwear already and that’s a great start, no?
The even better news is that my ride called and he is about as organized as I am and hadn’t even started packing so that will give me an extra hour to find my kitchen and pack my suitcases and decide which go books to take ^^
Karen
October 9th, 2009 at 10:51 amI can help you with #4. I just set my mother’s diamond in a vintage style ring and I am so happy to have this sentimental item to glare at. I purchased the setting from FayCullen.com. Go there, fall in love with most everything, and gather ideas for your dream ring! You won’t be disappointed!! I PROMISE!
October 9th, 2009 at 2:21 pmEat at the tapas bar in downtown Napa…take a tour of Ravenswood–the best!
October 9th, 2009 at 4:14 pmI taught myself how to knit at knittinghelp.com. They have videos! It’s awesome!
October 9th, 2009 at 8:29 pmHere’s your castle. Loved it.
http://www.hotel-schoenburg.com
October 9th, 2009 at 8:35 pmThe fjords of Norway are beautiful we lived in Oslo for 6 months and did a Fjord cruise, it was so beautiful. The Norwegians are nice people and they all speak English. Check out this link to see some of the pictures from our trip… http://pnkhellen.blogspot.com/2004/04/norge.html
October 10th, 2009 at 9:23 amI love reading other people’s life lists. I always find something to fit each category:
Wow, me too!
Hey, I never thought of that.
I’ve done that, it’s cool.
I’ve done that, meh.
Is she crazy? Why would she want to do that?
Also thrilled for anyone knocking one off the list, and I loooove the idea of leaving some margin for adding the unexpected. Have fun!!!! Blog thoroughly!!!!!!!!!!
October 10th, 2009 at 3:02 pmThere is a corn maize in Hondo, pretty fun for the kids and we even got lost 2 years ago in it. I live in San Antonio. That will take care of #24!
October 10th, 2009 at 5:47 pmI have 4 grandchildren and got to hold them all as newborns. On Sept 14th my first great grandchild, Jacob, was born, I was waiting in the hallway outside the room and held him within 15 minutes of his birth. What a thrill.
October 10th, 2009 at 10:39 pmAh, the mule ride down the Grand Canyon. I have long wondered what exactly it is that makes mules qualified to do this. I am little skeptical but man, it would be cool, huh?
October 11th, 2009 at 9:10 pmWhen you do #20, I will come along for the ride and help you drive.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:53 pmI will be hearing the “Children of the Corn” music in my head for the rest of the day.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:54 amCarnival!
October 12th, 2009 at 11:46 amI really like your list, especially the summer in Italy…that would be soooooo fantastic! Lottery ticket machine, here I come.
October 12th, 2009 at 3:56 pmGreat list - I don’t see Machu Picchu on there and I highly recommend it! There’s another list - I’m not sure what to call it - life experiences we wouldn’t ask for but are better or different or something for it. We all have them - The painful things that turn out well or not - but we are somehow better for them (I’d typed mine but one was too sad and well - this is a happy post…)
October 13th, 2009 at 8:22 amChris,
I was at the grocery store yesterday, one that’s a little more fancy than a typical supermarket, and I saw the Spotted Dick. And I thought of you. Ahem.
Lauren
Chris says: Hahahaha.
October 14th, 2009 at 1:13 pmForty by forty…I would have to add some things like learn to keep my shoes on in public and curb my tendency to talk to myself. Who needs a mom that shows all the signs of senile dementia before you’re even in high school?
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:58 am