Thanks, Jeffro, nice to remind me about those...

100 Things Meme

In bold are the things I've done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (but no one but me knew it, so I had to go with older ones that everyone else spoke better)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the EvergladesWrestled a gator, too.
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (participated)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Half way? or much less to go?

Yesterday I stopped running on the circle in my cage, and looked around. All the complaining on Friday wanting to stay in bed wasn't the reason, the frozen sidewalks and road (no running down the street) weren't the reason. Nope, I stopped because I was now sixty years old. In Asia where they still consider their dead ancestors important they celebrated the elders that reached sixty - hard work in those rice fields and climbing those mountains and toting that bale, not everyone made it to sixty. It is a big day to get all the family and village together and pay honor to the one that made it. I got a chocolate cake for breakfast with two candles (60) and my son called over the computer in live video and we talked, I had email and I got cards and gifts but mostly I spent my day alone and trying to reconcile my financial program ending last year before I start taxes, anyone seen the tax forms for 2007 yet? not I.

But mostly alone I was looking at my life and making it to sixty, and remembering those that didn't, a couple of childhood friends, one killed by a bear, one killed by cancer of the blood, Rim Dungey from California didn't make it out of Vietnam alive, his name is on the Wall, Oliver did what he loved for years and cancer got him twice, the last time for keeps, Wes did what he loved and is remembered well for it, same end - second time on cancer and he didn't win, I heard he said "It takes so little to be happy." Ah, you can't sell that idea, it is too true. So I get to sixty and get to remember them and who they were when I knew them best and I will never be sure why it wasn't me instead of them. The Sun did break through the clouds and the ice and water dried out, I did go jog for an hour two minutes and twenty-two seconds, smiling.

Today in the library I open a new magazine and see "Forty is the new Thirty" and I have to laugh out loud - it wasn't a sixty year old, writing that article, was it? Ah, I am back on the wheel whirling along, still smiling and remembering sometimes those that I don't see around anymore, in the backrooms of my heart.