My Life List

So, I've been working on a Life List and I'm pretty excited about it.  I highly encourage it.  Mine is still a work in progress.  However, I'm not waiting to "finish" the list before I get started on it.  In fact, the list may never be complete.  There is a lot I want to do and experience in this life, and now is the time.  Bring it!

Here is my list, in no particular order:
Enjoy Paris in Spring
View the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.
Go to NYC at Christmastime
Go on a fall colors tour of the Northeast
Attend the twin convention in Ohio and enter my boys in the "most different" competition
Learn another language besides Spanish
Tour Greece - explore the Sacred Feminine
Stay in a Pacific island hut
See the wonders of Australia
See the Pyramids
Help 5 other people accomplish something on their Life Lists
Go on a hot air balloon ride (with Jeff, Colorado Springs, CO 9.10.11)
Enjoy a spa retreat in Sedona
Get a massage in Palm Springs
Attend a women's retreat
Dance in the rain with my boys
Host an annual event (Christmas Open House, 3rd year in a row, 2013)
Start a regular (monthly?) adult or family gathering
Go to a jazz club on Bourbon Street
Tour Alaska with Jeff
Take a train trip
See Japan
Go to Disney World with my boys
Eat pasta in Italy
Really learn about wine
Attend a Jimmy Buffett Concert (with Monica, 10.18.11, Pepsi Center, Denver, CO)
See the Albuquerque Balloon Festival
Attend the Sequim Lavender Festival
Take my friends on a tour of Seattle
Attend a movie marathon
See Mamma Mia on stage
Get a spa treatment at the Broadmoor
Stay in a 5-star hotel and be pampered
Wear an amazing pair of shoes
Stay at a small resort in Tabago
Travel overseas with my sister
See a midnight premiere (with Anke & Allison, Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part 2 7.15.11)
Go on a solo trip with each of my sons
Take a nap on the beach
See the Northern Lights
Watch a sunrise with my boys
Take a family vacation in a cabin on a quiet lake
Attend an epic concert (Sting's Back to Bass tour with Jeff 6.5.13)
Attend an intimate acoustic concert
Attend a concert at Red Rocks (Sting's Back to Bass tour with Jeff 6.5.13)
Attend a film festival
Befriend a celebrity
Have a cut flower garden
Find a charity and truly support it
Go to a Roller Derby event (with Anne, Pikes Peak Derby Dames double header 10.22.11)
Do Karaoke and line dance with friends
Take ballroom dancing lessons
Ski on a real mountain
Take an interior design course
Play in an adult symphony or band
Learn to SCUBA dive
Take better photos
Travel alone
Learn to knit
Learn to sing harmony
Try pilates or tai chi
Take an art class
Hike a 14'r
Go parasailing
Learn to ride a motorcycle
Learn to play steel drums
Take and record a photo every day for a year

I Deserve It

Yes, I guess I'm a late bloomer.  I'm just starting to really think about this, and I know other people already get it.  What am I talking about?  Happiness.  Knowing that I truly deserve to be happy.  I have a long, long way to go with this one, that's for sure.  For some reason, it is programmed into my brain that I don't get to experience real joy.  Something has to be not quite right, something missing, someone else gets it better.  Not fair!  I deserve every happiness that anyone else has.  Boy, this is a very hard thing to get straight in my brain.  I often default to others, don't speak up, allow things to happen that maybe aren't what I had hoped.  Well, now I'm trying to put it out to the Universe, Great Creator, Master Designer and Decorator of all things...  I want to feel joy.  I want to feel happiness.  Send it to me.  I'm ready to accept it.  I'm ready to take it and enjoy it and then I'm ready to spread it around.  But be clear, first, I'm ready to have it rain down on me.  I will not deflect it to others first, and not allow myself to feel it.  I will drink it in and then let it shine out from me.  I want that glow.  I want to find happiness, joy and bliss.  I deserve it.