No words about dementia.
Or freelancing.
Or squirrels.
Today, it's all about me.
I will be 49 years old tomorrow.
I'm one year away from having lived for half a century.
And because it's a Leap Year, I get one extra day to enjoy life before I reach that mark.
Because it's all downhill after that, right?
As I look back on my life I've been blessed enough to have:
wonderful parents
fiercely devoted brothers
a supportive extended family
two daughters who have been my world
a husband who holds my heart and my hands with the same passion
two bonus sons who excel at loving others
two bonus granddaughters who bring new life to each day
countless pets who have brought comfort and happiness
a pretty good mix of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
And without each of these, I would not be who I am today.
But, as I continue to think about my life, I realize that my bucket list may be close to full, but it's not quite there yet.
So this post is mainly for me.
I wanted to look back at my 49 years on this planet and have a picture of what I've experienced.
And can I just say?
Wow.
Stood under the Eifel Tower | Was quarantined in Venice during Swine Flu | Traveled around the whole of Ireland | Walked the Golden Gate Bridge |
Stood next to Big Ben | Drank Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon | Ate escargot and cuisses de grenouilles in Paris | Paddleboated around Lake Lucerne, Switzerland |
Been up close and personal with two moose | Have a Disney Annual Pass | Climbed Black Mountain, North Carolina | Stood at the top of the Empire State Building |
Been to a Yankees game | Graduated from college at age 43 | Been to the birth and resting place of Abraham Lincoln | Toured Windsor Castle |
Hiked the Grand Canyon (part of it, like 1% of 1% of it) | Stood in wonder at the bottom of Bryce Canyon | Defied an early morning death at Zion National Park | Met most of the cast of The Princess Bride |
Survived a weekend in Las Vegas | Stood within 2 feet of Sandhill Cranes | Worked in the world of books for 17 years | Been on a Caribbean cruise - once was enough |
Survived walking through Times Square, NY | Sipped coffee and chicory and ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde | Saw snow, played in snow, been snowed on, made a snow angel | Drank Jameson and Guinness in pubs in Ireland |
Snorkeled next to a shark and survived (barely) | Laid down on the glass ledge at the top of Sears Tower | Walked by the Declaration of Independence and didn't steal it | Cried at the base of The Lincoln Memorial |
Stood at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree | Held a letter handwritten by Abraham Lincoln at the Library of Congress | Watched a manned capsule launch at NASA | Stood at the shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built |
Stepped foot in the Pacific Ocean | Sang with The Florida Orchestra | Saw a rainbow in Ireland | Sat in Ford's Theater and mourned |
Toured the whole of Washington, D.C. | Serenaded by bagpipes in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day | Walked in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul on the streets of Rome | Met Anthony Daniels and David Prowse from Star Wars |
Met Sue the T-Rex | Stood in the Supreme Court | Kissed the Blarney Stone | Stood in the Long Room Library at Trinity College |
There's more. There's so much more.
I know I've left off many things that I've done or been a part of.
Apparently, without pictures right in front of me, I forget.
So I reserve the right to come back and add to this.
Just as I'm going to make sure I suck the marrow out of that extra day I get this year.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...” -- Henry David Thoreau
I know I said no squirrels. However...
On the day I started writing this post, this happened while I was having dinner at EPCOT.
Add one more box to that grid above.
A squirrel sat in my lap.
🍰 Happy Birthday Susan !