What I Want To Do Before I Die

AndreAnna, over at Diary of a Modern Matriarch (a place I lurk at but almost never comment), had a really interesting post today about our goals and dreams. Things we want to do before we die. And I really enjoyed her post - so much, that I decided to follow her lead and do one myself. I really encourage you all to do one too - first off, because I'm nosy and I wanna know, and second, because, well, I really do think it's important to write these things down. It makes it more tangible. Makes you want to really sit down and plan when you'll be able to do it. So write, people! Write! Here's my Top 20 list (in no particular order). I'm sure there's more, but you don't want to read a Top 500 list, do you? I thought not.

1. Skydive, bungee-jump, and hang-glide (I put them all under the same number since they're rather similar in nature. And I need my extra spaces!)

2. Write down all the recipes my family has accumulated over the years, print it out in book form, and give it to the next generation. Our love of food and family shouldn't die with my sibling and cousins.

3. Sit down with my mother and father, and transcribe all the stories they remember of their childhood and youth. My parents really have amazing, sometimes tragic, stories to tell, and I don't want them to be lost when my parents die and I get too old to remember them.

4. Buy all the books I adored when I was a child, and keep them safe for when I have children, or if I don't, for my nephews or nieces. I want them to appreciate good literature and love to read, to listen to stories. Reading shaped my life so strongly that I want to pass it on.

5. Visit every continent in the world, and as many countries as I possibly can (except Antarctica. Antarctica can kiss my ass).

6. Learn Portuguese.

7. Spend substantial time in Brazil.

8. Write a book about my experiences as a child, and as an adult. There are already so many things I don't remember, and it is important to me to have a record, somewhere.

9. Buy a large, LARGE bathtub and take a bath whenever I want to. Baths rock.

10. Have fresh asparagus in my fridge at all times.

11. Be as environmentally friendly as possible. Install solar panels on my roof. Buy a hybrid. Shop at the local co-op. Whatever I can do within my means.

12. Take care of a baby. My mothering instinct won't shut up until I've held a baby, changed it's diaper, fed it, bathed it. Hopefully it'll be my baby. If not, my cousin's might find their kids missing one day.

13. Eat something sweet and naughty every day. Just a little bite of chocolate or cheesecake.

14. Find a job I love. Not a job I like. A job I L-O-V-E.

15. Learn to truly be happy by myself. Learn to not let others hurt me, or bother me, or annoy me.

16. Try to really live my life by the rule: "Do to others like you would want them to do to you." And not get upset when they sometimes act like assholes.

17. Love my partner and children.

18. Learn how to sew.

19. Be as debt-free as humanly possible. And learn to save.

20. It's harder than it sounds (for me, anyway), but learn to say "I love you" to the people I really love.