The List (with a capital L)

March 30, 2007 – 1:00 am

The other evening one of my girlfriends (after very tolerantly listening to my complaints) suggested that I needed a List. No, not just any old list– I already have plenty of those. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I have a list for everything. This is an altogether different list. It’s a list with a capital “L” — the List of all the things I want to do. We’re talking long-term here.

My friend says that it’s amazing; that she started a List and then began to actually achieve the things on the List. Maybe there’s some kind of weird subconscious power in knowing your List is out there… or maybe it’s a cosmic thing. Who can say. Anyhow… I’ve decided to take her up on her suggestion. What can it hurt, right?

My List:
draft 3/29/07

  • Vacation in Paris
  • Host a dinner party
  • Go on a bicycle tour in the French and/or Italian countryside
  • Write a book AND get it published.
  • See the pyramids from atop a camel
  • Do yoga (I mean really do it; regularly)
  • Do something for someone else that drastically changes their life (in a good way)
  • Become passionately involved with a charity that I believe in
  • Go sea kayaking
  • Re-read Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • Get an MBA
  • Be a good mother
  • Start and run a successful company
  • Take a photography class
  • Rent a villa in France, stay there for AT LEAST a month with family
  • Run a marathon, or even a half marathon!
  • Be the recipient of a truly surprising surprise party
  • Be comfortable in my own skin (getting there…)
  • Go to Thailand
  • Learn to sail
  • Go somewhere gorgeous on a sailing trip
  • Re-learn all the constellations. Be able to identify them in the night sky.
  • Grow old gracefully

And, because I think it’s important to have the satisfaction of checking things off (and because I am now in full-on list writing mode…)

Things I have already done:

  • Have a child
  • Get married
  • Stay married for 9 years, 7 months… and counting
  • Renovate a house
  • Speak at a conference
  • Graduate from college
  • Learn how to play poker
  • Climb the corporate ladder (at least part-ways up)
  • Fly first-class on an international flight without paying for the upgrade
  • Spend 2 weeks in a Bahamian beach house
  • Climb to the top of Chichen Itza
  • Experience Carnival… in Venice
  • Ride out a minor but scary earthquake in Japan… while 6 mos pregnant… during SARS outbreak (not a positive experience, necessarily, but still impressive)
  • Scuba dive
  • Learn to snowboard
  • Experience true love
  • Clean the toilet (trust me: this is list-worthy)
  • Choose to quit my job in order to seek after harmony, happiness, and personal growth (oh yeah and to take care of my SON… see first bullet point)

What’s on your list?

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6 Responses to “The List (with a capital L)”

  1. By cry it out! on Mar 30, 2007 | Reply

    I love your list. Go to paris. Host a dinner party. It’s about the same.

    I just want a good babysitter …

    [Reply to this comment]

  2. By Peter Hill on Mar 30, 2007 | Reply

    Live/work in a foreign country for > 6 Months. I had offers for jobs in both Qatar and Dublin, but neither was competitve with Seattle.

    Watch an Olymics closing ceremony (fingers crossed on Vancouver)

    Learn to play the piano.. for real

    [Reply to this comment]

  3. By Jennifer on Mar 30, 2007 | Reply

    Host a dinner party is on my list, too. I need a dining room table first!

    cry it out said she wanted a good babysitter, me too!

    Also, I’d include a long vacation to Hawaii, Canada, NYC, Pacific Northwest, Grand Canyon, Paris, London..

    Be a good mother is also on my list.

    Great post, I may steal your idea and do this in the future!

    [Reply to this comment]

  4. By Undercover Angel on Mar 30, 2007 | Reply

    Awesome list! Mine would have:

    Be a good mother
    Visit the pyramids in Egypt
    Teach my kids to be independant
    Start a multi million dollar business
    Land a part on a soap opera
    Star in a movie opposite Brad Pitt
    Hire a live in maid and cook

    Maybe in my spare time I could become a plastic surgeon….

    [Reply to this comment]

  5. By The Queen of Shake-Shake on Mar 30, 2007 | Reply

    Great idea! I may be a copy cat. Though it could be depressing for me because I’ll get all tied up in exactly HOW am I going to do all of these things and realize I’m a bigger loser than I realized. Hmmmm….must seek therapy again.

    [Reply to this comment]

  6. By Jenny on Mar 30, 2007 | Reply

    Loving it…

    Anyone who creates their own List- make sure you give me the link!

    [Reply to this comment]

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