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.

So – when I was away this weekend with two very dear girlfriends of mine at their cabin upstate (more on that later – amazing!), we came upon, in one of the many notepads and journals lying around for drawing, writing, creating, that Tracy had written her own to-do list.

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 neccessarily 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. And Tracy still isn’t quite sure why everything is checked off – 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 just this past weekend. And as for quit job and retire – she has in a way – as she has “retired” from her old profession and is starting a new career this fall in grad school. So 4 out of 8 isn’t so bad.

Now if she would only win that lottery.