Lists

When cleaning out some of the boxes stashed in various places around our house, I happened upon a little notebook.  And in this notebook, I found a list.  2 lists, actually, titled: Things I Want to Do in My Life and Places I Want to See. 

In case you didn't know, I'm a list maker.  I make lists like nobody's business.  Lists of chores, lists of errands, shopping lists, and more than once I have made a list of places I want to see and things I want to do.  If you were to dig through our recycling, you'd find multiple lists.  Lists, lists everywhere!  So discovering that I had made these lists was not actually surprising.  The exciting part was realizing how old these lists were.  They were made before I got married, but after I graduated from high school.  My best guess is somewhere around 2002. 

So let's get to it, shall we?  Here are the lists (with commentary in parenthesis):

Things I Want to Do in My Life

• Go to the temple (check!)
• Get married in the temple (check!)
• Read the Old Testament (check!)
• Kiss the Blarney Stone (sadly, no check)
• Have kids (check!)
• Learn to drive a stick shift (check?  I have driven a stick shift, but not well, and not for more than a few minutes.  And I certainly couldn't go do it right now without some serious coaching.)
• Have patience (some things never change)
• Get a doctorate (Um, no.  This is where Shannon of the past is disappointed with Shannon of the future, and Shannon of the future says, "Oh well.")
• Go to a World Series game (nope)
• Learn all about baseball (I've learned some things about baseball, but all things considered, it's still not much.)
• Baptize at least one family member in proxy (That's a negative.  We did take a couple of Clark's family names through the temple a few years ago, but we didn't do the baptisms.  And it was his family, not mine.  But, as he reminds me, we're related!)
• Help at least one person find the gospel (Nope.  At least I don't think so.)
• Serve a mission (no check here)
• Run a 5K (check!)
• Compose a song (nope)
• Look through a telescope (Surely I've done this.  Surely.  I just can't think of anything specific.)
• Learn to play cricket, and play cricket (What the what?  Why on earth would I want to learn to play cricket?)
• See a moose (check!)
• Read Nephi Anderson's books (I've read 3!)
• Milk a cow (check!)
• Be kissed in the rain (check, check, and check!  [I have a fabulous husband])
• Grow tomatoes (check!  Hoping for a repeat performance this year)
• Learn Portuguese (no.  This was one of my new years resolutions this year, but so far it's been a big flop.  However, this list item, along with get married in the temple, helped me peg down the year this list was written.)
• Have Spaceman Spiff PJs (Well, who doesn't want Spaceman Spiff PJs?  But alas, they don't make them.  And I don't know how I'd make them.  If you have any ideas, send them along.)
• Eat beignets and go to a jazz club in New Orleans (nope.)
• Go to Die Fleidermaus (nope.)
• See David Letterman (No.  And sadly I never will.  Well...actually I'm not that sad about it.)
• Watch Swan Lake (No?  I'm not actually sure on this one.  I'm talking about watching it live, of course.  Maybe I went at some point?)
• Go to the New York City Ballet (nope)

I think it's fascinating to see how my priorities changed, to see what things happened, and what things didn't.  Just fascinating. And list #2:

Places I Want to See

• France (someday)
• Ireland (someday)
• Scotland (someday)
• England (someday)
• Italy (someday [obviously I need to get to Europe])
• Arches National Park (check!  We went on our honeymoon, and again before Ella was born.  So DOUBLE check!)
• Lake Powell (We drove by it, so maybe that counts.  As a fair skinned person, this is not terribly high on my list.  It's just asking for a 2nd degree sunburn.)
• A concentration camp (tie that in with my future Europe trip)
• Disneyland (check!  Though I had been there before I wrote this list.  I guess I wanted to go again...which I haven't done...)
• Zion National Park - the narrows (um, yes.  Yes, yes, yes.  Haven't hiked up the narrows, but I've hiked all through Zion, and the very beginning of the narrows.  Perk of living in St George.)
• The White House (no, but I can feel a DC trip coming in the next few years)
• Mt Rushmore (no.  But we are going this summer!!)
• Nauvoo (check!)
• Carthage Jail (check!)
• Liberty Jail (no.  Only a 7 hour drive from here...)
• Kirtland (check!)
• Palmyra - the Sacred Grove (check, and check!)
• Norway (again with the Europe)
• New York (state, yes.  city, no)
• Canada (check!)
• Mexico (nope!)

So, we're slowly checking off that list.  Basically I need to go to Europe.  Sadly, I think the time in my life to go to Europe is either10 years ago or 10 years in the future.  So we'll put a pin in that idea and see what happens.

This is a long post, but I found it incredibly enjoyable.  Do you have a bucket list?  What's on there?