Friday, October 9, 2009

On Turning 30 and Bucket Lists

I'm rapidly approaching my 30th birthday in November. To some of you, I'm a spring chicken. To others, I am THAT LADY WITH THOSE KIDS. No matter what my relative age is, I do feel as if I'm entering a new phase of life. 30 seems so much older than 29. Okay, maybe not that much older...

I will always remember (unless my memory starts to go soon...) that episode of "Friends" in which Phoebe tries to complete her "Things to do before I'm 30" list only to find out she's been 30 and is almost 31. She proceeds with the list and has the time of her life doing it.

Well, I have a list. It isn't a "Things to do before I'm 30" list but more of a "Things I want to do before I get too old to do them" list. :) I'll share 30 of mine, in honor of my upcoming birthday, then you share some of yours.

These are not listed in order of importance, FYI.

1. Sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.
2. Go backpacking around Europe (just Dave and me).
3. Put flowers on C.S. Lewis' grave.
4. See the Redwoods in California.
5. Visit Seattle and drink coffee at the first Starbucks.
6. Go to a Yankees game.
7. Go to Walt Disney World with my kids.
8. Visit Easter Island and see the big stone heads.
9. Go to India and eat tons of Indian food.
10. Visit Israel and walk where Jesus walked.
11. Go to Greece and take pretty pictures.
12. Climb a few more 14,000 ft. peaks in Colorado (I've climbed one so far...and a few shorter ones, like 13K or 12K).
13. Go to NYC and do NY stuff (Broadway, Central Park Zoo with the kids, Times Square).
14. Visit all of my internet friends at least once.
15. Be an overseas missionary in China, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.
16. Ride in a gondola in Venice.
17. Own a stick shift again.
18. Buy a really nice camera with a nice, wide lens (I hope this one comes true soon.)
19. Adopt a child.
20. Be revolutionary...somehow.
21. Write a book.
22. Learn to paint or draw better.
23. Lose all the baby weight (for good...after I'm done having babies, of course!).
24. Find the birthplaces of my ancestors and visit there (Ireland, Scotland, England...of course)
25. Teach my girls how to sew.
26. Learn how to can food.
27. Learn how to quilt--for reals (there's an elderly woman in my Bible study who is up for the challenge!).
28. Read more classics.
29. Plant a garden and keep it alive for an extended period of time.
30. Leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren.

I may add to this as I think of things. Your turn.

7 comments:

  1. I want to be an ironwoman

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  2. this is inspiring! chuck often asks me about my "dreams" and i've come to the conclusion that i am simply too logical and rational to dream big. maybe that's sad. the only thing i've really ever hoped to do beyond being a wife and mom was to be published.

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  3. Amanda, great post. I think you can do some of these things now - some of my friends already this fall have taught themselves to can. So find a buddy and start canning away! (Oh, after you sustain that garden, even, would be a PERFECT time!)

    One of my life goals is to have my pilot license, so when I'm in the bush of Africa I can fly out. :)

    Another of my life dreams will come true on November 21. :)

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  4. 1. I want to see Honduras become a mission force.
    2. I want to have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth.
    3. I want to go to Italy
    4. I want to visit all my friends working overseas: in Angola, Egypt, Nepal, Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Guatemala, Khazakstan
    5. I want to learn how to really forgive from the heart
    6. I want to learn French, Arabic, and Chinese or some other language well (I want to be pentalingual).
    7. I want to finish my thesis

    (I'm already 30 going on 33)

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  5. Mine would look so much like yours, , I would also have these numbers on my list #2, #3 is a big dream of Steve and mine right now, #4, #9 should be done together you and I!, #10, #11, #15 (you already knew this about me and maybe it can be combined with #9) #19, #22, #23, #25, #26, #29, #30 and most of the others I am not including because I have already done them!

    I think women start to come into their own in their 30's, it is a wonderful comfortable age, where you feel as though you have arrived and yet are still so young with your furture before you...Own your age!!!

    Fun post!

    Love, Jo

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  6. Oooo.. I want to learn to quilt. maybe we can learn from that old lady together;0)
    Cameron and I also want to adopt.
    I'd love to go to Disney World sometime with the family!
    I'd love, love, love to have a big get together with all my old students!

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