My List

This is a picture of nurse hottie and I on our way up to two hundred feet above the ocean in Key West this past summer. If you haven’t done it, I highly recommend parasailing. I tend to be a bit on the scared whiny baby side of adventure, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. I think I tricked myself into believing that since we were attached to a parachute everything would be okay. That if we somehow got detached from the boat we’d just sort of leisurely float away…

For a lot of folks it’s New Year’s resolution time. I’m not one for resolutions. Instead, I have “the list”. The list was started back in August of 1993. I remember watching a Lou Holtz interview where he talked about sitting down and writing a list of things he wanted to do and achieve. He mentioned that on his list was (no big surprise here) to be the head coach at Notre Dame. That inspired me to start my own list. Like its author, the list is a picture of diversity. It runs from material (own an emerald ring – checked off in 1996) to serious (have children –checked off in 2002 and 2003) to the whimsical (make an apple pie from scratch – not done yet) to adventurous (whitewater rafting – 1998) to the type of person I want to be (buy presents for needy – 1996-present). Despite the fact that I'm discussing it here on the internet, the list is actually quite personal and private to me. I've shared it's entire contents only with my husband, and even that was after we'd been married for a few years. There are no deadlines with the list, no criteria for when I need to complete something, or add something new. Generally something will strike me and I’ll write it down. My most recent additions are to see an NFL game in every stadium, and to publish a magazine article. Certainly I’ve had a number of amazing experiences that weren’t on the list. Sometimes I'll complete a task without realizing it was even on the list (parasailing falls under that category). Sometimes completing something on the list alters me in a way I didn't anticipate. For those who didn't know, back in the 90's I spent two years as a mentor at a juvenile prison. What I learned during that time, both about myself and the world that those young men lived in (both inside and outside of prison) is way too personal for me to explore here in this forum. I will say this - it changed my perspective on why crimes are committed - and opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone who is a criminal is a "bad person". It opened a window to a socioeconomic and racial world which I likely would never have been exposed to if I hadn’t decided it was time to check “perform volunteer work” off my list.

In case you were wondering, I’ve only deleted one item from the list. Two years out of college I signed up, with 15 or so co-workers, to go skydiving. A week before our scheduled trip the instructors we were supposed to skydive with were all on a “fun jump” together and their plane crashed, killing all on board. I think two of the original co-workers still went skydiving a few months later. Me – I scratched it off the list.

I wouldn’t say I live my life for the list. But it is inspiring when I look and see that, for a thirty-three year old, I've experienced a lot. I remember what I’ve done, and how much I’ve lived, and it makes me look forward to continuing to experiencing all that I can, while I can.