Participating in Your Own Life

This is a quickie post before I dash off tomorrow for the holiday with distant family, inspired by CG's post on participating materially in our own lives. This post spoke to me in a weird way. Have you ever read something, or had someone say something that sums up a bunch of random thoughts that have been knocking around in your subconscious? That's sort of what the Contrary Goddess' post did for me.

Then Meadowlark posted the following list and asked everyone to bold the items they had done. It's kind of a tangent, and kind of not. I've gone and added another ten items of my own at the end of her list. Post the list on your own blog if you want to play along at home. Add your own items for bonus points. (Everyone wins though.)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (This is one that definitely won't happen! You couldn't pay me to go.)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis (But I have held a dragonfly.)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (That'd be something to see!)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (more than once)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (You mean there's someone who hasn't done this?)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping (Does it count if it was during a childhood summer spent largely naked?)
27. Run a Marathon (Uh, no. You know what happened to the first person who "ran a Marathon," right?)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (Yes, but only lunar.)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (moonrises too)
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (- short run only, >1 day.)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (Well, yes, a few actually, but with plenty of help from teachers.)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (A summer of Star Wars re-runs. Very formative.)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (I'm pretty sure I've never done this.)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (fresh from the Caspian Sea, on the coast of the Caspian Sea)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (No. Knock on wood!)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (Not the inside, just the outside.)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (Probably saved his life, couldn't save his brother. Not a good memory.)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Several, but just to shake hands and chit-chat.)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby (I'm not mother material. Really.)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit (Class action doesn't count, right?)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (Was stung by about half an angry hive once.)
100. Read an entire book in one day (Some books are just like that.)

101. Attended a religious service of a religion significantly different than your own
102. Changed a flat tire, or fixed a leaky faucet
103. Lived in a foreign country
104. Euthanized (or had euthanized) a beloved pet
105. Witnessed a (human) birth
106. Witnessed a (human) death (see #89, above)
107. Donated an organ or bone marrow while still alive
108. Planted a tree
109. Cut a Christmas tree from the wild
110. Voluntarily fasted for a full day or more

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