100 Goals for My Life

Recently, my Dad unexpectantly sold his house. Great news for him, especially in this economy, but stressful news for me, knowing that I still had an old bedroom full of "stuff" that needed to hit the road some time before the news owners settled in--stuff that I haven't seen, let alone used, in at least three years. You see, when I moved across the country to be closer to a special someone 3 1/2 years ago, I didn't realize that I wouldn't be coming back!

Anyway, being the good sisters that they are, Caitlin and Sarah offered to box up my room for me...and they came across some interesting things along the way--

like my porcelin doll and stuffed animal collections;

a bureau drawer full of butcher knives that I had been given as a gift;

shelves full of neatly arranged binders containing every class note I had taken in high school and college;

and my alcohol stash in the closet--buying it was always more fun than drinking it, and most of it was still sealed. (Caitlin did mix herself up a drink with one of the open bottles of rum, however, and swears it almost killed her...haha...who knew alcohol could go bad??).

And, amdist the random itmes lying about, they found two pieces of college rule notebook paper, folded in thirds and titled: 100 Goals for My Life. Sarah was sweet enough to mail it to me (and without reading it, to boot!). As I opened the envelope the other day, the paper was immediatly familiar to me--I remembered writing "the list" with my friend, Amanda, many years ago. It must have been at some point during college, as #1 on the list was: Graduate from college.

I will not bore you with the entire list (a few of them are too embarassing to share and others are just plain strange), but I will share a few highlights with you...

Early in the list, my goals are typical, but I am so blessed to be able to check them off:

2) Get married. (Thank you, Jesus, for my best friend and love of my life!)

3) Have kids. (I suppose we are still working on the plural aspect of this goal, but I consider it accomplished, even if God only gives us one).

5) Own a house.

There are a few that I still very much aspire for and hope that I have done, but they are difficult to measure, and I don't know that I will ever be able to conclusively check them off. Maybe it's better that way, so I continue to pursue them:

27) Totally feel God's presence.

28) Convert someone to Christianity.

51) Save an unborn baby.

Some of them have little chance of ever happening, but they are fun to think about:

33) Invent something.

35) Eat a bratwurst in Germany.

Others I am totally at peace with never checking off:

45) Milk a cow.

65) Do the splits.

68) Ride a motorcycle by myself.

A few of my goals I am pretty proud of accomplishing:

15) Run a half marathon.

41) Be a Eucharistic minister.

And others I would still like to do someday:

57) Renew marriage vows.

59) Go to a high school reunion.

70) Go to Hawaii.

And last but not least...

easily the least noble,

yet most entertaining:

10) Kiss a REALLY hot guy. (Check!)

In the origianal text, "really" was capitalized and underlined twice! Ah, the aspirations of a 20 year old...

Goals are important. As my husband always says when giving talks to younsters:

"If you don't know where you are going, anywhere will do."

"If you don't know where you are going, you're lost!"

Take a moment and write down some of your own goals!

BTW, about a year ago I wrote down a new list of goals...so no, making a human sand castle is no longer a top 100 priority for me...but if the situation presents itself, I may just get to check it off the list!