Sunday, October 10, 2010

Black Notebook

Propped up beside my nightstand is my tattered black notebook. In it I keep things I want to remember-- the combination for a padlock we no longer use on the shed, paint chips of colors I have spread on walls in our house, copies of hymns with wonderful words, and measurements & bits of fabric from quilts I have made.

I also keep lists-- Several lists of house projects that I've worked on over the years, a log of every book I've read since April 2002, lists of trips I've taken and/or would like to take ahead. Leafing through yesterday I found an old list I had forgotten. It's not dated, but I'm guessing about 2001. It's a list "50 goals to do before I turn 50." Nine years later, I was oddly pleased to see how many of the goals actually came about:

Go to NY City with Larry -check!
Visit the MacDonalds, Tuckers, Wrobbels and Newmans in Illinos-check!
Finish a masters degree -check!
Celebrate my 50th birthdday -check! (thanks to Jenni)
Sew up quilts for each of my kids -double check!
And a quilt for each grandchild -check!
Get down to 130 pounds -almost check! :)
"learn the internet" (what does that mean?!) -check? (thanks to my kids for the bit I know)
Get my ears pierced -check (thanks to Ani & Laurel)
Take a family portrait -check (done twice as we've grown!)

But I have to admit there are plenty of worthwhile goals left to complete:

Travel to Seattle and North Carolina
Go overseas to fill/teach in at a mission school for a year
Take an oil painting class
Write 3 handwritten letters/notes each week
Sing in a production of the Messiah...

There's more. It's time to rework my list, add some new goals for a new decade. How about celebrate Mom's 80th birthday in style?! or go back to teach English in China with Larry this time? Retire so I can do all these things! I'm thank for life and energy for goals and projects ahead of me, for a life that's full.
















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