Bucket List

I've been thinking a lot about goals and dreams for the future. Being a mom has definitely been a dream of mine for a long time. Not only being a mother, but being a great mom. As I start to think of my goals and my dreams and my proverbial to-do list, it seems that there is a lot of overlap for the life I want for my marriage, my family, my child(ren). So I want to start my bucket list that I can come back to and update and edit along this journey we call life. And mark things off as I go.

Everyone knows someone (or multiple someones) who have died to soon with too many things left unsaid or undone, or people who have dreams that they will never fulfill simply because of fear (of an assorted variety), or lack of motivation, or a crippling shortage of self-worth...or whatever the reason. So, part of reaching goals and achieving dreams is to define what you want. Put it on paper (or the Internet!). So here is mine -

In no particular order:

1. Meet the love of my life and get married (completed, June 2004)
2. Become a mom (the countdown is ticking)
3. Own our own home (completed, April 2006)
4. Visit Italy, ideally for at least a month, and cook authentic food with locals
5. Take a family vacation to Disney World
6. Train for and complete a half marathon
7. Eat an authentic meal in Mexico (completed, June 2009)
8. Eat at a James Beard award-winning restaurant
9. Go white-water rafting down the Upper and Lower Gauley River in West Virginia
10. Go to an ACC Duke basketball game in Cameron Indoor
11. Swim with the dolphins (completed, June 2009)
12. Touch a shark (completed, June 2004)
13. See Niagara Falls (completed, April 2012)
14. Drive up the east coast and stop in DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, eating at amazing local restaurants and "dives"
15. Go on a cruise
16. Go on a special trip/vacation with just me and the Hubby at least every five years (so far so good over the past ten years, ongoing for the future)
17. Perform anonymous, random acts of kindness (ongoing)
18. A whole list of things I want to teach my child(ren) - to be added. Maybe a separate bucket lists of goals and ideas I want to complete as a parent?
19. Read the Bible and pray daily (currently not ongoing as planned, note to self: correct that!)
20. Hear Wynton Marsalis in concert (completed 2001, 2002 but want to do it again and again)
21. See a play on Broadway
22. Take horseback riding lessons with the kids
23. Learn to play Parable for Solo Trumpet by Persichetti
24. Get the guts to sing jazz on a stage in front of people
25. Transcribe the entire "Kind of Blue" album by Miles Davis (1 song down, 4 to go)
26. Go parasailing (completed, June 2004, disaster and hilarity...but that's another story)
27. Go on a helicopter ride (completed, April 2012)
28. Swim with Great White sharks
29. Learn to fly a plane
30. Go to the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC
31. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef
32. Hear a concert in the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Australia
33. Hear concerts in Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City
34. Eat pizza in Naples
35. See the Basilica di San Marco in Venice and The Coliseum in Rome
36. Visit The Smithsonian Museums in Washington, DC (completed, January 2003)
37. See Mount Rushmore
38. Get Certified as a Financial Planner (started January 2012, want to see it come to completion)
39. Take an acting class
40. Volunteer at a soup kitchen with my child(ren)
41. Have a beautiful space with a hammock
42. Sleep in a castle
43. Start my own business/start my own restaurant
44. See the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
45. Adopt a pet from the animal shelter (completed, July 2006)
46. Travel to California (and visit the San Diego Zoo)

WOW! What a list! I'll be back to update (and hopefully mark more things complete!), and probably split the list into a "Mommy List" and a "My List". I thought about scaling this list back, but dreaming big is the whole point, right?!

Chao!