(First: My blogs have been very list-y lately. Perhaps I'm not such a bad Capricorn after all.)
I am 26. I have less than four years (holy hell, how is this possible?) to do the following things that all fall somewhere between "totally doable: should have actually done yesterday but am a lazy fool" and "aw, the 26-year-old is crazy; that's cute."
1. Sit down and talk, candidly and openly, with my father. And not about sports or movies or American Idol.
2. Take a cross-country road trip and eat locally the entire time.
3. Sip on mimosas at brunch with my mom and my sister.
4. Scrapbook my engagement and my wedding.
5. Send out every birthday card I intend to for an entire year. (Same goes for anniversaries and births.)
6. Have a child with my husband.
7. Go to my 10-year high school reunion ... skinny.
8. Speaking of, LOSE THESE THIRTY STUPID POUNDS.
9. Take Mike to Tulsa and introduce him to my uncle and aunt, two people I haven't seen since I was 13.
10. Buy Texas A&M season tickets.
11. Become a full-time and money-earning writer.
12. Run a marathon. Wait, let me rephrase slightly: finish a marathon.
13. Go back to Tahoe City and eat breakfast at Rosie's, the place Mike and I ate breakfast together two days after we got married.
14. Change my social security card.
15. Go to the Oprah show. Preferably when she's giving cool shit away.
16. Buy a car.
17. Buy a house.
18. Take my child to both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
19. Send my husband to Vegas without me.
20. Build up a recipe collection and cook consistently.
21. See a therapist and sort out the last of the things that need to be sorted out.
22. Pay off every last cent of my debt.
23. Watch my brother graduate from high school (holy hell, how is this only three years away?).
24. Meet a handful of incredible women who inspire me to be a more honest and stronger woman.
25. Finish every book I own.
26. See Greenday in concert (you with the eye rolling; who invited you?)
27. Visit Portland.
28. Dance to Journey with my son or daughter in the middle of the living room.
29. Take my mom on a spa weekend, just us.
30. Forgive myself for all of it.
What does your list look like?
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In other, very vague news, we've been faced with something devastating. If you have an abundance of positive thoughts, send a few toward Texas, please. There are some people here who desperately need them. People whose happiness and peace mean everything to me. I haven't cried this much in years.