My friend, Gail, reminded me yesterday that I still owe y'all my last 25 Things to Do Before I Go. Can you tell this has gotten harder towards the end?  

76.   Brush up on my French language skills.

77.   Visit France with Kate and her mom (and others, if they want!).

78.   Make really good French onion soup and coq au vin (that I don’t drop in the snow bank first and, then, have to get my Dad's help re-creating/salvaging before Rachel’s dinner party).

79.   Go on an all-day shopping excursion with Rachel (I miss my best shopping partner!).

80.   Host Christmas for my side of the family, with everyone in attendance.

81.   Fully document my infertility experiences: the good, bad, and ugly.

82.   Learn how to be less socially awkward, especially in large groups of people (is this possible?).

83.   Make homemade scones.

84.   Walk the dogs at least twice a week (believe it or not, it’s becoming easier as they get older).

85.   Decorate my office at work, once this summer construction is complete, with plants and photos and lots of cheerful color.

86.   Find a church that feels like home (and attend it regularly).

87.   Tour Nevada with Drew.

88.   Take the train from Holland, MI to Chicago.

89.   Stay in a swanky hotel in downtown Chicago for at least two nights.

90.   See the Cubs play at Wrigley Field.

91.   Go to the theatre more often, with Drew (you’d love to see some more musicals, right, honey?)

92.   Go back to Butchart Gardens and take more pictures with the DSLR.

93.   Eat fresh lobster on the East Coast (I totally had to steal this one from Gail.)

94.   Go back to visit the places I grew up (the ones I haven’t been back to): Wichita, KS; Salina, KS; Troy, NY; Wenham, MA.

95.   Own an heirloom-worthy solid hardwood dining table and chairs (oh yeah, and a house with a formal dining room to put them in ).

96.   Host more dinner parties.

97.   Own a baby grand piano.

98.   Convert to using only re-usable grocery bags.

99.   Create a "place" (maybe in a garden?) where I can go to talk to LJ and honor her memory.

100.   Tell my family and friends how much I love them.  Repeat often.

51. Take a drawing class.

52.  Really get to know my siblings as adults.

53.  Watch my sister teach in Spanish.

54.   Have a picture taken with four generations of women—Grandma Teddy, my mom, me, my sister, and  my future   daughter—before it’s too late.

55.  Convert to using all “green” household cleaning products.

56.  Frame all those Ansel Adams photographs I collected from previous years’ calendars and finally hang them in the master bedroom.

57.  Re-paint the “wall of death” red.

58.   Find a pleasing arrangement for family photos on the new red wall.

59.   Buy a decent lounge chair or hammock for the deck (just do it already…yes, they are expensive, but you know you want one…).

60.   Wear a sunhat without feeling self-conscious.

61.   Camp out in the backyard with Drew and the dogs, complete with “camp” fire and S’mores.

62.   Embrace ironing.

63.   Make all cards for a year’s worth of occasions ahead of time, and file them by birthdate, anniversary, etc.

64.   Create more photo albums.

65.   Find a jewelry box that fits all my necklaces in a hanging position, so that they don’t always get tangled.

66.   Have a walk-in closet, reserved just for me and my exorbitant collection of shoes and handbags.

67.   Read the Bible from cover to cover.

68.   Sing a duet with my sister.

69.   Some day, live close enough to work to walk (like Dad) or bike there (like Tiff used to).

70.   Get together with Kate, Aubrey, Michele, and Tosha at least twice a year.

71.   Feel less guilty when I say “no” in favor of maintaining balance in my life.

72.   Get a family picture taken with Drew, me, Molly, and Sammy (if we can hold them still!).

73.   Spend a romantic weekend with Drew at the Khardomah Lodge (where we were married).

74.   Get that piano tuned.

75.   Put window boxes with pretty annuals under the two front windows.

Inspired by my sister (thanks, Becky!) and others. My first 25 aren't particularly creative, but I hope that I will get more creative now that much of that requisite professional goal-type stuff is mostly out of the way.

1.       Publish at least one work of fiction.

2.       Publish at least one work of non-fiction.

3.       Have a feature article published in a major (non-industry-specific) magazine.

4.       Earn a second bachelor’s or master’s degree and/or Ph.D.

5.       Read the Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, The Secret Garden, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (among other early adolescent literature) to a child.

6.       Read the classics on my “to read” list.

7.       Paint a nursery yellow, like my first bedroom in Salina, KS (to this day, I still remember that room being the lightest, brightest, and most comforting place to be).

8.       Expand my teaching of writing to other companies/organizations and begin teaching writing at a college/university.

9.       Expand my writing/teaching consulting into a successful business venture (“successful” here means “could replace 9-5 job with comparable income").

10.   Travel to Italy, the South of France, Ireland, Greece, Japan, and Bali (to name a few).

11.   Plant a successful vegetable garden (“successful” here means “does not die,” as is so typical of any of my gardening adventures to date).

12.   Take a photography class and make a point of practicing more often.

13.   Re-learn to play Clair de Lune on the piano again (this means playing it up-to-tempo, with no hesitations or mistakes).

14.   Learn how to play the guitar.

15.   Join a singing group or choir.

16.   Act in another theatre production.

17.   Take dance lessons.

18.   Become as (or more) physically fit as I was while playing sports in high school.

19.   Save a life.

20.   Bake with my Mom to learn Grandma Bea’s sweet roll recipe.

21.   Go sailing.

22.   Become a stronger swimmer.

23.   Buy new, hardwood bookshelves and re-arrange all books I own by topic and alphabetically.

24.   Tweak homemade frozen yogurt recipe for optimum nutrition and sweetness.

25.   Take a relaxing beach vacation (one where absolutely nothing is planned and there’s no pressure of somewhere to go).

-Em