thirty first

For years and years, even before the movie "The Bucket List" came out, Charlie and I have been pondering what we'd like to accomplish in our lifetimes.

We've jotted down lists and lost lists, only to rediscover lists [several years later] and quickly realize that "taking a tour of a pineapple plant" or "owning a pool cleaning company" are no longer high priority items to accomplish in whatever days we have remaining on this planet. And although it sure sounds nice, the probability of us "owning a second home in the Cook Islands" is both impractical and extremely unlikely.

When I think of the things I'd like to accomplish in life, some of the things aren't things I can cross off a list. For example, "Be a good friend" or "Positively inspire people" isn't a one-time accomplishment and thereby something that I can strike through and say, "THERE, that's done!"

And "Ignite a passion for learning, living and helping others in my children's hearts..." I suspect that one will be a life time process.

Summarized below are the (most current) 31 things that are suited for a list that I'd like to accomplish in my lifetime:

1) Get in to the best physical (emotional & financial) shape of my life and then ... STAY THERE.

2) Run a successful business that I thoroughly enjoy

3) Join a choir

4) Take a photography class and learn to use the settings on my camera

5) Put together photo albums

6) Turn blog in to a book (blook?) for my children's posterity

7) Take sailing lessons

8) Sail the intracoastal waterway from one end to the other [edited to add: the boat will obviously have a motor because the waterway isn't much more than a river in places, which might be difficult to sail. Although who knows. I've never sailed before...]

9) Drive an RV to every state in the nation [edited to add: except Hawaii because it might be hard to get across the Pacific. DETAILS. DETAILS.]

10) Visit all of the National Parks

11) Hike portions of the A.T. (Appalachian Trail) and stay in rustic cabins

12) Take a train across the Canadian Rockies, visit Bannf and Lake Louise

13) Raft the Colorado River with friends (Jessica, I'm looking at you....)

14) Visit each of our four Compassion children

15) Visit foreign lands (and places) including but not limited to: Machu Picchu, Australia, Nepal & Scotland

16) Drink beer in an Irish pub. In Ireland.

17) Travel in a sleeper train all over Europe

18) Plant a vegetable garden [edited to add: and then EAT the vegetables from said garden. It's not enough that I plant them, they have to actually grow.]

19) Develop a passion for cooking

20) Take the family to Disney World

21) Learn to speak conversational Spanish

22) Drive to the very end of the Florida Keys

23) Pack in via horseback to some remote Sierra Mountain location and go fly-fishing

24) Downhill ski in the Swiss Alps

25) Make a significant impact to a charity close to my heart

26) Sail around the Mediterranean

27) Adopt a child

28) Design and build a house (near the water)

29) Dive in to history and tour all the eastern seaboard battlefields

30) Hold my grandchildren

31) Leave this world (much) better than I found it

I think it's good practice to jot down some goals you have for yourself in life. Without goals to strive towards, life can easily turn in to one giant blob of day after day.

So. Do you have a life-list?

If yes ... what's on it?