24 Things I Want To Do in my Life

I was scrounging through my various 'memory' boxes today in search of a particular photo - an exercise renowned for sucking time into a massive black hole as I completely lose myself in memorabilia and flashbacks of graduation, school and old boyfriends.

Anyway, amongst a whole bunch of other interesting items I'd forgotten I had - gold locket I could give to Scarlett, a toy car... why? burnt out candle stub... bin - I found this.  It was a list of "24 Things I want to Do in My Life".  It resided in a diary I was writing when I lived in Scotland, which was in 1998, thirteen years ago.  I would have been 23... obviously still young enough to have some pretty grandiose dreams :)

Here's the list.

Things I Want To Do in My Life
1. Live and work in Canada
2. Visit New York
3. Visit Las Vegas
4. Stay at a luxury health farm
5. Go hot-air ballooning
6.  Go on a luxury cruise ship holiday
7. Work in Melbourne + Sydney
8. Live beside the sea
9. Get married in a fairytale castle
10.  Run along the beach in a size 10 bikini... and not fall out!
11. Have a meal at the top of Centrepoint Tower, Sydney - preferably lobster.
12. Parachute jump!
13. Visit Queensland
14. Drive around Australia in a campervan
15. Snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef
16. Stay in a villa in the South of France
17. Visit Paris again
18. Have babies (at least two)
19. Have my own office
20. Own at least one complete designer outfit
21. Write and publish a book.
22. Arrive in a limousine somewhere
23. Drive with friends in a red, open top car.
24. Completely decorate my own house.

A quick check in reveals not-so-promising progress on most of the goals on my bucket list, unfortunately.
Still haven't been any where near Canada, New York or Vegas, although those places are definitely still appealing to visit.  Someday.  I don't know where I thought I'd be getting all the money from for luxury health farms, cruise ship holidays, parachuting and hot air ballooning, but none of that has happened either.

I didn't get married in a fairytale castle, just the Kew Gardens.   I don't own a designer outfit, and not even close to publishing that book.   I think driving around Australia in a campervan might still be 20 years off!

On the plus side, I completed half of no.7, which is working in Melbourne.  I think I can scratch both 10 and 13 off my list too, having had a Gold Coast holiday in the summer of 2000 at a very slim and bikini-worthy size 10.  I've had one baby, which is well on the way to crossing no. 18 off the list, and I had my own office for 8 years (now shared).  Completely decorate my own house?  In the midst of that right now!  And yes, I did actually arrive in a limousine somewhere (no. 22).... my own wedding.

It's funny how some of your goals change, too.  I'm no longer really interested in working in Sydney, living by the sea particularly, or visiting France again (done that).  I'm not 100% sure what the whole red open-top car thing was about...was I having a Ferris Bueller moment?  Not a top priority.  And snorkelling... I can't imagine what I was thinking.  I hate to snorkel.

My goals now are slightly different.  I guess that comes with motherhood.  I'd have to replace several of the above with these:
* Be a good, kind and loving mum and wife
*Pay off house
*catch up on no. 18
*Appreciate every day what I have right now.

.... and who knows, maybe still I'll eat lobster and write that book someday.