The Big List

It’s what all those sticky notes were made for…the proverbial To-Do List. Countless of us have made them…daily, weekly, yearly…in notebooks, on scrap paper, in journals, on our hands. We have our tasks we MUST complete.

I was away one weekend with some friends at their cabin in upstate NY, and we came upon, in one of the many notepads and journals lying around for drawing, writing and creating, a To-Do list that Tracy had written.

It had 8 items – not extraordinarily long as lists go – but it was extraordinary in its content. This was no “pick up dry cleaning, write thank you note, call mom,” type of list – this was a wish list – honest and forthright, with no apologies.

My favorite part is the order in which her list was made – the first item being something that could possibly take a lifetime (if ever) to achieve. The second item was not necessarily something someone can “do”, and the last, was as simple and easy as walking over to the cooler.

Here goes:
Build log cabin for 8.
Win lottery.
Buy plane.
Build helioport. (an inadvertent ‘o’ inserted)
Quit job.
Retire.
Watch hummingbirds all day.
Drink beer!

The list got progressively easier as it went on (I suspect item #8 had something to do with that.)  Each item was checked (Tracy isn’t quite sure why) – although I admire her determination, as if checking the items off gives a feeling of completion.

The good news is I can honestly say that I saw her achieve the last two that weekend.  And as for #4 and #5, she has taken a left turn and started a new career after a stint in grad school (“retiring” in essence from an old job.)  So 4 out of 8 isn’t so bad.

Now if she would only win that lottery. – BB

Do you have a Big List you would like to share?