Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Bucket list

My little sis just completed her first marathon. Way to go D! What an accomplishment!

Made me think though... what have I accomplished lately? Have I put my heart into anything? Gone all out? Can't remember..... so I think not! It's easy to brush it off as part of being a mom to young kids (although lots of moms to young kids run marathons). Then there is my excuse that Mr. J works very long hours, and is often called away suddenly since he's at the mercy of the court system. It makes it hard to plan things except for waaaay in advance or schedule large blocks of "me" time. I also don't have any children old enough to babysit so any time away from home usually involves sitters. I tried to get active playing tennis in the evenings at a local club, but after a month or so, it just got too hard to schedule or predict Mr. J's schedule. And I couldn't justify hiring a sitter (plus picking up, taking home) for me to play tennis for an hour in the evening.

As for actually going anywhere.. HAH! The law is a harsh mistress. Defense attorneys are all about billable hours, so vacations and trips can only be taken once your billables are secure (NOT the case with Mr. J's firm this year -- or a lot of defense firms in general in this economy).

That said, I've formulated a short "bucket" list of things I'd like to do (preferably with Mr. J and/or other family members) in the next 7 years:

  • Safari in Botswana - note, I don't NEED to do an Abercrombie & Kent trip, although that would be nice, no? I do want to go to Botswana because 1) it's family friendly, 2) it's a relatively politically stable country and 3) Okavango Delta & Victoria Falls!
  • Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage - while probably the most affordable and least physically taxing item on my bucket list, it's also the most far-fetched. Why?Because it's a 30 day pilgrimage so the kids would most likely NOT come along. So I would need someone to watch them for a whole month. Yeep.
I set a goal of 7 years because I'd really like to do these things before I turn the big 5-0. Mr. J and I think it is HILARIOUS that we'll qualify for AARP before Anders is even in middle school.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am in for the Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage. But 30 days is really long. Is there a 10 day express course?
Bunky

Anonymous said...

one question .. we get to stay in hotels right? If it is hiking and camping then I am OUT!

Debbie said...

Wow! You don't start off small, do you? My next goal was to visit a Florida State park. Or if I'm really crazy, the Grand Canyon. I've never even heard of Camino de Santiago, but I'm pretty sure camino means walk.

I would love to babysit for you! I adore your kids and want to spend more time with them. I want to really enjoy this opportunity to live so close by. Just let me know when you want to go play tennis and I'll Hippity Hop around your house!

kari said...

I was going to say the same thing. You have two babysitters (that don't need paying) 10 minutes from you! Who's up for tennis?

Do you have any plans for the US? :)