For the past couple of years I’ve used my birthday as a time of reflection on where I’ve been and where I’d like to go. There’s nothing concretely symbolic about birthdays, just like there’s nothing magical about choosing January 1 as the day that you’ll really start making an effort to get this whole life thing right. But obviously the older I get the more this phrase rings true: “The days are long, but the years are short,” and I don’t want to look back on my 20s and wish I would have slowed down to live a little.
So, for me, the New Year is for resolutions, but birthdays are for bucket lists. The 26 things I’d like to do before I turn 27:
- Travel to New York City
- Ride a bike to a different town
- Take a handful of yoga classes
- Learn to bake a pie
- Visit at least two new states
- Fill up a journal
- Paint something
- Write a poem or a song
- Take a solo overnight trip
- Read all the unread books I own
- Run a half marathon
- Travel outside the country
- Eat at CC’s City Broiler here in Columbia
- Find an organization I think does good work here in town and volunteer my time for them
- Send a lot more snail mail
- Learn to do a few easy car-maintenance things myself
- Shoot a fish with a bow
- Plan a trip with just one other person
- Keep some house plants alive
- Learn to cook a few traditional southern dishes
- Keep up with this here blog but also don’t worry about it too much
- Spend a whole night looking at the stars
- Cook a nice meal for some friends. Cocktails and all.
- Join a D-league sand volleyball team
- Go to several Mizzou football and basketball games
- Re-do a piece of furniture
Alex Marie 