Today, I don't feel like that at all. Nope. I do feel like adding to it though.
First, the five things I wanted to add to my list in 2010:
Things I would like to do:
1) swim in the Mediterranean
2) walk inside a building that is more than a 1000 years old
3) drink milk still warm from the cow
4) finish my novel(s)
5) help someone else succeed at breastfeeding
Did all of those except #1. But I was pretty darn close. And #2? The building was probably only 800 years old, to be fair, but I say it counts.
- Gave birth to a special needs baby, on my own terms, with a c/s that was how I wanted it to be.
- Fought to breastfeed and taught a doctor how to measure how many ounces a baby drinks from the breast by using a scale. Seriously.
- Learned how to audit my own hospital bills for errors.
- Learned how to shop around for better prices regarding hospital tests and labs.
- Learned how to ask for help.
- Learned how to milk a cow and that Chad is better at it so it can be his job. Ha.
- Made cheese. Made a lot of cheese.
- Explored caves.
- Started dying my hair purple again.
- Tapped maple trees and made my own syrup.
- Taught others how to tap and boil for syrup too.
- Took a pottery class and made my own dishes.
- Loaded pigs in a trailer, alone.
- Brought chickens to the butcher and helped in the initial kill.
- Returned to Chicago after a really long time.
- Found her. She's not dead.
- Applied and attended a writer's retreat in Georgia.
- Rode a bus cross country.
- Assisted, alone and with the vet, pulling lambs from a ewe in labour distress.
- Bottle fed lamb, calf, and piglets.
- Published photography.
- Published poems.
- Published an essay.
- Got my passport.
- Went to Europe. Took pictures.
- Sang at Karaoke.
- I wrote poetry again.
- I took myself seriously as an artist.
- I prayed at the Bone Chapel in Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.
- I rode a train across the countryside in a faraway country.
- I learned how to make tinctures and teas.
- I healed some more.
- I cooked a pheasant.
- Hosted a holiday meal at my home.
- Learned to kayak and row.
- Built fence and rotated livestock.
- Attended a wound that required actual first aid to stop the bleeding.
- Learned to hula hoop.
- Wrangled a loose calf.
- Kept bees.
- Rebuilt relationships, and nurtured other important ones.
- Learned about Permaculture and shared it with others.
- Made time for my art, and nurtured my own being again.
- Helped a mama get donor milk for a baby in NICU.
- Did the right thing even though it was really hard.
- Encouraged someone else to take their writing seriously too.
- Got back on stage and read poetry aloud again after 16 years of being terrified to do so.
- Learned how to cook lamb.
- Bottled and started selling my secret spice mix.
- Raised food for 60 other families in the last 5 years.
- Stopped complaining about my toe.
- Grew my hair to my waist.
- Loved fiercely.
- Walked on ice.
- Brined olives (it takes two months and is kind of hard!)
- Taught my son to walk.
- Started and admin several facebook groups that do a lot of good in the world.
- Read more books.
- Photographed a punk concert.
- Ate Vegan food and didn't die. It was delicious actually!
- Learned to spin wool, even though I am terrible at it.
- Sent that packet of poetry back in, revised. They didn't want it after all this time, but I got a personal response back and at least now I know.
- Didn't let rejection shut me down again.
- Learned that most of the time, when people are being jerks, it's not actually my problem or about me.
- Learned how to apply eyeliner.
- Threw myself a birthday party.
- Joined a book club.
- Made Crown Roast.
- Learned that I am my own worst anchor, let go of that chain.
- Toured Jim William's mansion.
- Tracked wild pigs in Georgia.
- Watched turtle lay eggs and later watched the eggs hatch.
- Drank Kumbacha. Yuck.
- Rode a horse.
- Paid attention.
- Go on a sail boat.
- Visit California.
- Write and Finish the fairy tale book I am working on.
- Take a photography class.
- Set up my own website for my writing and art.
- Go to Ireland and go fishing.
- Return to New York City and read poetry there.
- Take pictures of mountain.
- Play with my kids more.
- Learn to fly a plane.
- Learn to drive the tractor.
- See Lady Chablis perform live.
- Write even more.
- Love even harder.
- Grow more food, feed more people