Life List

i've been contemplating my life's "to-do" list, having the read the one posted by fellow blogger, my friend Anne.

(I am feeling almost naughty referring to Anne as a friend - for those of you who know who she is - but hey, I'm over 40 now, and relationships change, huh?)

She published a list of goals she wanted to achieve in her life, along with a list of additional accomplishments. I'm big on lists - i keep lists of things to do around the house, books I've read, books I want to read, movies to see, projects to complete around the house, a general list of tasks. (When I taught, I used to write down what I wore to work each day - the class only me twice a week and I didn't want to wear the same things every week ...)

But I've never actually documented what I'd like to do in my life - it seems a bit daunting. But today I've made a stab at it. First, though, I am going to publish the list of things I've done. It's a list in progress, and the list you see may have been edited from its original - some items may be too personal to share.

It's interesting to read what some people find significant. For example, Anne published being proud of having a letter to the editor published. Someone I know in Lafayette clipped hers and carried it around, showing it to people. I found that interesting because my job at the newspaper was to catalogue and edit all the letters to the editor, place them on the opinions page. So to me, getting a letter published seemed almost un-noteworthy.

But things change: I had a letter to the editor published in the Houston Chronicle last week. It's a city of 4 million people - can you guess what their volume of mail is? In Lafayette we got more than 100 letters a week and published seven or eight a day. Here, they must get 10 times that number. And mine was published - virtually unedited - yay for me!

But I digress. Here is my (edited) list of accomplishments:

1. Lived in Europe (three times)
2. Learned a foreign language (Ich habe eine Fremdsprache gelernt. Ich kann noch Deutsch.)
3. Published commentary in the newspaper
4. Pitched, wrote, and published the newspaper’s editorial on Roe v. Wade
5. Marched on Washington (two times)
6. Lived in two of four time zones
7. Graduated from college; had more than one 4.0 semester
8. Earned my master’s degree
9. Had three children
10. Went through one birth without drugs
11. Drove in Europe
12. Drove in rush hour in Houston
13. Had a letter to the editor published in the Houston Chronicle
14. Saw a show on Broadway (five and counting, plus more than I can remember in the West End in London)
15. Spent a semester abroad (that sounds more glamorous than “studied in London”)
16. Been to Disneyworld ... in Paris
17. Traveled alone
18. Saw the Olympic torch
19. Saw presidential candidates campaigning (two in one year)
20. Built a house (well, contracted it out, but still ...)
21. Hung wallpaper
22. Restored a historic home, with very little help from contractors
23. Flew first class
24. Visited the Soviet Union
25. Vacationed in Greece
26. Paris, Rome, London, Munich, Berlin, Athens, Madrid, Moscow, Leningrad, New York, Washington DC, San Francisco – seen them all
27. Vacationed in Jamaica
28. Delivered a Sunday service (at the UU in Lafayette) on a controversial topic that was (reasonably) well-accepted
29. Took my children to Europe, New York, Washington DC, a third of the states
30. Found a church that supports what I believe
31. Kept a secret that would be worth telling
32. Been a bridesmaid (but only once … interesting)
33. Took ballroom dancing lessons
34. Learned to knit
35. Married my soul mate, my best friend
36. Quit a job that was unsatisfying, even without another job on the horizon
37. Humbled myself in another employment situation, admitting I'd made a mistake
38. Photographed an event attended by the Vice President (the only journalist allowed in, by the way)
39. Had my picture taken with Sen. Paul Simon and with VP Dan Quayle
40. Won an editorial award from the Hoosier Press Association
41. Planned a successful major fund-raiser
42. Lived in five states, two foreign countries.
43. Purchased four houses (and counting ...)

I'll stop there. For now. But there's so much left to do, so I'll share that another time.

What's on your list?