Twenty Five Things

Like most people, I have a Life List or, thanks to the recent Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie, a now commonly known "Bucket List".

I remember clearly the day I wrote mine. I was newly 19, and renting my own studio apartment in Northern CA. It was the first place that was all mine, no roommates or family members to share with. I budgeted my expenses and was careful not to let my checking account ever dip below $100, though some months it would be exactly that. On top of rent and utilities, I was paying off my first car, and had landed my first nanny job (and 2nd day job); a big step in my desired career direction. For the first time I realized that life's possibilities were endless. As small as those things may seem, they were huge accomplishments for me and it began to sink in that every dream I ever had was waiting in front of me for the taking. I could do, be and have anything if I put my mind to it! So I sat on my 10 tile kitchenette floor, and made a list on two pieces of Giraffe Head note paper. With hearts.

It ranged from big dreams like getting married in the San Diego Temple, to simpler things like having internet. (FYI, first you need a computer. I didn't have either until another year later when I moved to NYC, and man did it feel good to check that off the list!) Things like "Have a theme song" and "Go through a drive-thru backwards" were quickly checked off by placing a star sticker over the number. Remember, I was nineteen. Bigger things such as "Buy a car" and "Attend General Conference in Utah" were loftier goals (monetarily), but I did it!

When I decided I was staying in NY for good, a lot of things stayed behind in CA in a storage unit. A few years later that was cleared out and a few boxes went into a closet at my Mom's. Each time I visit home I try to minimize my two shelf space into one shelf. On one of my last trips, I found my Life List tucked inside a "mementos" box. It had been five and a half years since I wrote it and at least four and half since I'd seen it.

As I read over the list I was thrilled to see that even though I didn't have a list to remind me, I had unknowingly "starred off" most of the things my nineteen year old self had dreamed of, without even knowing it. I've learned that dreams don't change or come to life by putting pen to paper, they come to life by living them!

I had fifty one things on my list. There are twenty one left (I had to remove two that are no longer goals "Find Scott" and "Get a Tattoo". I'd like you to know that both of those were boy related and no longer apply ;P). Many of the things remaining are life hopes and dreams that are not within my reach yet (mostly career and family related), but some of them are goals that can be met in the near future....

Thus, a new list was born. Twenty-Five Things To Do When I'm Twenty-Five! Many of them are New York things, because after four and a half years what's my excuse for not going to a Mets Game??!! Some involve travel, others are spiritual, personal, and just plain silly.

As I was making my list it took me back to those days of innocence and possibility that existed on cold tile floors, and that thinkers light bulb lit up over my head as it does every so often and said, "Every day is a day of innocence and possibility!" I just needed a piece of paper with a few numbers and star stickers to remind me. :)