me, age 10.
When I was thirteen, I used to pray to Jesus that He wouldn’t come back just yet because I really, really wanted to go to prom.
That might sound silly to you, but being raised in the Southern Baptist Church, I had it on good authority that Jesus could come back at any time so you better not pout & you better not cry & you better pray over which socks you should be wearing. Except while my friends in youth group were busy memorizing Bible versus in preperation for the Second Coming, I spent the majority of Sunday School class in silent prayer with my life list, ticking off all the things I wanted to do:
Dear Jesus, I’m super-stoked to see you but I kind of like it down here on Earth because I’m pretty sure that you don’t have prom up in Heaven. Also, I’d like to lose my virginity before you get back because the pastor said that all we’re going to want to do is praise You in Heaven & I’d like to see what sex is like first. Oh, & getting married. Could you wait until I get married?
Then I’d feel all heathen-ish because who tells Jesus to slow his roll? But I knew that Jesus knew where my heart was at & hot damn, I just really liked life on Earth.
I went to prom. I got married. Obviously, I lost my virginity.
In short? I’ve achieved what I set out to do in life & that feels pretty good so I guess Jesus can come back now. But I still have some more stuff I’d like to tick off:
Go to prom.Get married.Lose my virginity.Have a baby.- Live in a state other than North Carolina.
- Write a book.
- Have the book published.
- Hike & camp on the Appalachain Trail with Doug. (I’ve already done it solo.)
- Visit Greece.
- Run a 5K.
- Visit Egypt.
- Complete a triathalon.
- Get a tattoo on my wrist.
- Give birth without pain medication.
- Take a photography class.
- Take a sewing class.
- Become a midwife.
- Take a picture under the Bean in Chicago.
Own a black wool peacoat.- Spend a weekend in the North Carolina Outer Banks with my boys.
- Visit the Holocaust Museum.
Work at SAS.- Make Babble’s Top 50 Mom Bloggers list.
- Live in the country.
Experience a white Christmas.- Travel to London with my mother.
- Speak at a blogging conference.
- Learn to change a light fixture.
- Take a day & eat all of my favorite foods in one day, even if they come from different restaurants.
- Dye my hair
redpink. - See a musical on Broadway.
- Visit Washington, DC with Doug.
- Make a cheesecake that doesn’t crack down the middle.
- Host Thanksgiving dinner.
I’m sure it will grow & change as I grow & change but for now, this is who I’d like to be & what I’d like to do.
What’s on your life list? Do you have one?
{ 50 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder why your cheesecakes crack…?
no clue! but it’s my goal to make one that doesn’t.
they taste delicious, on the other hand. maybe the crack is my secret ingredient.
WAIT.
that sentence sounded so illegal.
OK the secret is to add in 1 tablespoon of flour
STOP IT. Really? I’m trying that next time!
My secret is bake it according to directions, but after the time is up, turn off the oven, open the over door, place a wooden spoon in the opening (to prop open the over door a little) and shut the door as much as you can (the wooden spoon will hold the door open a crack). Then let the cheesecake cool there. As the cheesecake and oven cool together, the cheesecake will not crack due to the temp change it experiences when you pull it out of the oven
I have only made a handful of cheesecakes and have never had one crack. I bake it in a water bath. I use a spring form pan, wrap the pan in tin foil and then put in a large roasting pan and add water up the side, about half way up. I bake it that way let cool in the water bath and then take out! I make sure to wrap the pan in layers to make sure no water gets to my glorious cheesecake!!!
I have always heard it is about even baking.
Love your life list! I remember thinking some of the same things around Y2K.
I’m from the Outer Banks and still live here now. Would love to meet up when you do make it down here! (Hope that’s not stalkerish sounding.)
Not at all!!! I just need recommendations on where to stay & what to do!
(OMG, Y2K totally freaked me out.)
Whenever your ready to come, just email me and I’d be glad to give you a list of stuff to do and where to stay!
I don’t have a life list. At least not one that I’ve written out, but I have thought about making one for the next month in case the Mayan Apocalypse does come true. I think cracked cheesecakes have personality
DO IT. Come over & I’ll make you a cracked cheesecake & we’ll make your list.
I had a really long life list. Then I took this awesome crazy class called Mondo Beyondo and now my life list is epically long, and include things that the universe has to provide, not just me.
A few years ago, I shared 36 of those items on my 36th birthday. I finished 18 of the 36 in one year. It was a little crazy. And awesome.
http://jonandlaura.blogspot.com/2010/03/36-wishes-for-upcoming-year.html
I’m wedding down the remaining list for my 39th birthday but the problem is that every time I read a similar list, I add items to my list.
I love yours.
I totally read #14 as Take a pornography class
Well, that too.
OBVIOUSLY.
I remember feeling the same way when I was younger, super guilty for hoping that Jesus wouldn’t come back until I was old enough to get married and have kids! I’m married now and have a baby on the way so I guess I’m running out of time!
I need to add to my list!
cracks me up how many of us heathens there were in Sunday school!
Mommy’s favorite thing in life is going to see musicals on Broadway – so next time you’re in NY, give us a shout!
Will do!! Do you have a favorite that you’ve seen?
If you have Harrison with you, the lion king! Amazing for adults and kids.
If not, you can’t go wrong with classics like phantom of the opera, or more modern classics like “wicked”. I’m a Broadway lover too!
You can stop in Jersey on the way up
Stupid phone cut me off… You should stop in Jersey, drop off the kids, then we’ll have a mom’s day on Broadway
I am so in!
You have never been to the Outer Banks?! I’m from Connecticut and I go every year. It is a MUST.
I KNOW! & I LIVE in North Carolina. That’s the crazy thing – but we just always go to the southern NC beaches in the summer. Doug keeps researching Bed & Breakfasts up there so I think we might go this summer
Do you have anywhere you recommend?? It’s weird how little I know about the Outer Banks.
I totally have take a picture under the bean on my list. I made a 30 by 30 list last year, I have less than two years to get about 20 more things checked off.
We’ll do it together, okay? & make funny faces.
My one life goal is TO LIVE in north carolina!!!!! lol it probably wont ever happen though. but I will keep asking my husband with hope…
1. I’m super excited any time I come across another person that is pro natural childbirth. Where I come from, it’s rare. So cool that you want to be a midwife!
2. Visit DC in the spring during the cherry blossom festival. It’s so pretty then & there’s extra stuff to do. Traffic in DC is a nightmare though, so try to avoid driving as much as possible while you’re here. I don’t live there, but Baltimore is close enough that we are able to take day trips
I had an epidural with Harrison (actually, two of them) & neither worked. I ended up with awful backpain for over a year from it & it was just a really wretched experience for me. I’m really looking forward to giving it a go without meds next time!
& the midwife thing is that I completely missed my calling. I should have been a midwife or RE, but now it’s my after-the-kids-are-off-to-college plan
How funny you posted this- I just told my husband last night that I need to make a life list. He looked at me like I lost my mind.
Nope, I was just channeling my inner BA
bwhahaha, make one! it’s so fun. I told Doug about this & he was like, “huh? You want to do what?”
My FAVORITE place in the world is #17. Under the Bean. Is it weird that i have some of the same things on my list? Numbers 6,7, 12, 29 (pink though, not red) are on my Top 10 List.
Now I want to write down my life list. But truth be told, I probably have one in a notebook somewhere because I LOVE lists. The Outer Banks are AWESOME! We went for our 8th grade field trip and I made a mental note on Ocracoke Island that one day I would go back. I have, multiple times.
I have to admit I am jealous of your part of # 8 that you have done. I’ve just crossed over it a few times.
The AT is amazing. I spent the better part of a summer on & off of a part of it in North Carolina.
i made it to 8 cm with no drugs with my last baby- does that count? espcially considering he weighed over 11 pounds at birth and my epidural wore off at about 9 1/2 and i felt the whole birth there after? i should make a list, i’d have lots of things on it and lots of things crossed off of it.
totally counts.
In my head, I believe there is a list like this, but writing it out and actually achieving these things is really eye opening. I think I will start my list and see how my life turns out… Thanks for the inspiration.
My biggest accomplishment that I’ve achieved would be, have a baby.
My biggest challenge that I haven’t achieved would be, graduating from college.
Yes ma’am
For me, it’s going to be cool to see what I do rather than focusing on what I don’t.
Would going back to school to finish be an option? I know it’s not for a lot of folks so I don’t want to be all Susie Sunshine GO BACK TO SCHOOL, WHEEE!! but I think any education is always worth a shot.
I can’t believe no one had mentioned how awesome that picture is.
Probably because I failed to mention that the retainer was PURPLE GLITTER.
I mean, people. I gave you a picture of me wearing a retainer with cowlick bangs. IT IS COMEDIC GOLD.
You and I look like twins at 10 years old!!! I need to find a picture to show you!
I looked much dorkier than you at 10, not fair. Oh, such an awkward time to be a girl.
A few things that have never moved from my ever changing list are to experience pregnancy/motherhood and to get a stamp on my passport. And to remember not to take my husband for granted, but that’s not so much something to cross off but to remember for all time.
You rule. I love this. Every bit of it, especially the peek inside your 10-year-old brain.
xo!
My cheesecakes ALWAYS crack…that is until Thanksgiving last week! I didn’t change anything about my recipe…only baked in a water bath…problem solved!!! Hope this helps!
Also, I’ve been reading your blog since the bump.com (pre-Harry) and can’t believe you’ve never been to Nags Head! I’ve gone every summer since I was a baby, but have now gone with my own family for the last 7 years. I’d be happy to share info and recs if you need any. We stay south, past all the public beach accesses, so it’s very quiet and family friendly.
Oh my God this post made me fall in love with you. If I had been drinking milk, it would have come out my nose. I haven’t made a life list, but you’re the second person this month that’s mentioned one so maybe it’s a sign.
your picture looks like it could have been taken from a magazine!
also….i think you have a natural gift if you do chose to be a midwife.
Long time follower (pre-Harry/bump times). I started following when I lived in NC and have followed ever since. I’m not sure I’ve ever commented though. I love life lists. I actually live in Germany now and will be renewing our vows in Paris (Vegas was first and was on my list- though no not the little chapel of love but a beautiful golf course) in February. Taking my husband on his dream golf trip to Scotland, another romantic trip to London and our final extravaganza on a Greek cruise in July before we head back stateside. My list is always ever changing too. We will also bike from Getmany to France. Sorry to brag!
. You’re welcome to visit anytime. You’ll have your own floor with a sauna….and stripper pole. Not kidding. Being in the military has its traveling perks. Checked Afghanistan of my list too. Blah. Look forward to your life list updates.
I am new to your blog and let me say you had me at wanting to go to prom before Jesus came back. I have never heard something like this from someone other than myself. I prayed and prayed asking Jesus to wait until I got married and had a family. Then as an adult I have found myself saying “could you hold back a little longer Lord?” There is still so much I want to do
I adore you for this post alone.
YES. I seriously thought I was the only one until this post. Now I know that there were a gazillion of us praying for prom.
I think it is awesome that you want to be a midwife!
Have you ever been to NYC? As for a show, a new-ish one that is pretty amazing is Newsies!!! Well, amazing if you like to see great dance numbers!
DC is great, especially “The Mall” (where all of the free monuments & museums are)! When our kids get a bit older, I want to take them to DC. The Holocaust Memorial is equal parts horrifying & beautiful. I can’t even describe it…
We went to OBX this summer & had a great time. We rented a house in Kill Devil Hills right on the beach & it was perfect for toddlers!
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