100 Things Worth Doing
Care of Mighty Girl:
A brief list of memories I hope to remember when my life flashes before my eyes.
What would you remember?
1-25:
1. It’s the last day of music camp (the last one ever - I leave for college the following summer) and my dad is waiting for me. I am dressed in concert attire for the evening’s final performance. His smile fades as I approach and I ask him, ‘What’s wrong?’ He smiles again, a tinge of sadness in it and says, ‘When did my beautiful, little girl grow up?’
2. Saturday mornings with my siblings - the four of us buried under my quilt laughing hysterically as we make faces at one another.
3. Mark and I getting lost on the way to our wedding and laughing the whole way.
4. Feburary 1992: My father is taken to the emergency room after collapsing from a heart attack at his doctor’s office. I have driven the 3.5 hour trip from college to home in under 2 hours. I am terrified and approaching meltdown while waiting at a red light and silently wish I had a friend to help me through this. A car pulls up behind me - when I look in the rear view mirror, I see my best friend Angie behind the wheel.
5. Skinny dipping in the Atlantic on a warm, July night.
6. 30 minutes after I drop Mark off (2nd visit ever) at the airport it hits me, I love this man. I could marry this man. 2 years later, I do.
7. Stepping off the plane @ SFO for the first time and completely overwhelmed by the sense of “Home”.
8. Seeing my brother and sister graduate high school.
9. I now pronounce you, 'Man and Wife'.
10. Driving with Mark on Route 1 near Humboldt, CA - it’s 2am. We round a turn and are awe-struck by the moon, full and heavy, wrapped in light fog as she hangs low over the ocean.
11. My first snow fall, at age 32, and hearing Mark laugh as I exclaim, “They really do look like how they’re drawn!”
12. Watching the Baby Bacchus drop on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans - Thank you, UF Athletic Assoc.
13. Exhausted from the excitement of signing papers and bringing a few loads of boxes, Mark and I collapse in the kitchen of our new house. We eat ham and cheese sandwiches on paper plates, grinning at one another and feeling all grown-up. It’s the best meal we’ve ever eaten.
14. Watching Sting perform in what once was a high school auditorium - the sound was so perfect, I could feel his voice vibrate in my chest.
15. Driving the California portion of Route 66 that straddles Arizona, we hear the low rumble of thunder. We pull the car over and watch a storm cut its way across the desert; the mountain range disappears behind a curtain of water. It’s a good 30 miles away - lighting streaks across the sky and a gust of wind rushes past us, lifting my hair.
16. Mark and I kissing in a rainstorm on the Paines Prairie Overlook.
17. Viewing the Leonids Meteor Shower at Black Rock - the entire universe was laid bare for us to see.
18. Cuddling with my mom and burying my face in her jet black hair. I feel safe and protected under her veil of hair, wrapped in her laughter- I am 5.
19. Freshmen year of college - marching band is a front row ticket to the most amazing football games ever. I experience the definition of celebration and triumph when UF beats FSU after a long string of bitter losses. The stadium is chaos - the noise is deafening. We can’t stop screaming and hugging and jumping up and down. My ears continue to ring days after, my voice is barely a whisper.
20. Hearing my biological mother’s voice on the phone and spooked that our voices and laughter are the same.
21. The passing of both my mom and dad.
22. A brief moment of panic sets in when the 11 inch ponytail is cut off and my head relaxes, free from all that weight, for the first time since I was 2.
23. My first day as a music teacher - I am approached twice by faculty, “Why are you out of class? Do you have a hall pass?” This would continue once a month for the next 2 years.
24. Cooking with my siblings and the talks we would have at the kitchen table.
25. Watching the fireworks from the kitchen window in our apartment in Santa Cruz and hearing the cheers from the crowd mixed with the screams of people riding the roller coasters on the Boardwalk.
A brief list of memories I hope to remember when my life flashes before my eyes.
What would you remember?
1-25:
1. It’s the last day of music camp (the last one ever - I leave for college the following summer) and my dad is waiting for me. I am dressed in concert attire for the evening’s final performance. His smile fades as I approach and I ask him, ‘What’s wrong?’ He smiles again, a tinge of sadness in it and says, ‘When did my beautiful, little girl grow up?’
2. Saturday mornings with my siblings - the four of us buried under my quilt laughing hysterically as we make faces at one another.
3. Mark and I getting lost on the way to our wedding and laughing the whole way.
4. Feburary 1992: My father is taken to the emergency room after collapsing from a heart attack at his doctor’s office. I have driven the 3.5 hour trip from college to home in under 2 hours. I am terrified and approaching meltdown while waiting at a red light and silently wish I had a friend to help me through this. A car pulls up behind me - when I look in the rear view mirror, I see my best friend Angie behind the wheel.
5. Skinny dipping in the Atlantic on a warm, July night.
6. 30 minutes after I drop Mark off (2nd visit ever) at the airport it hits me, I love this man. I could marry this man. 2 years later, I do.
7. Stepping off the plane @ SFO for the first time and completely overwhelmed by the sense of “Home”.
8. Seeing my brother and sister graduate high school.
9. I now pronounce you, 'Man and Wife'.
10. Driving with Mark on Route 1 near Humboldt, CA - it’s 2am. We round a turn and are awe-struck by the moon, full and heavy, wrapped in light fog as she hangs low over the ocean.
11. My first snow fall, at age 32, and hearing Mark laugh as I exclaim, “They really do look like how they’re drawn!”
12. Watching the Baby Bacchus drop on New Year’s Eve in New Orleans - Thank you, UF Athletic Assoc.
13. Exhausted from the excitement of signing papers and bringing a few loads of boxes, Mark and I collapse in the kitchen of our new house. We eat ham and cheese sandwiches on paper plates, grinning at one another and feeling all grown-up. It’s the best meal we’ve ever eaten.
14. Watching Sting perform in what once was a high school auditorium - the sound was so perfect, I could feel his voice vibrate in my chest.
15. Driving the California portion of Route 66 that straddles Arizona, we hear the low rumble of thunder. We pull the car over and watch a storm cut its way across the desert; the mountain range disappears behind a curtain of water. It’s a good 30 miles away - lighting streaks across the sky and a gust of wind rushes past us, lifting my hair.
16. Mark and I kissing in a rainstorm on the Paines Prairie Overlook.
17. Viewing the Leonids Meteor Shower at Black Rock - the entire universe was laid bare for us to see.
18. Cuddling with my mom and burying my face in her jet black hair. I feel safe and protected under her veil of hair, wrapped in her laughter- I am 5.
19. Freshmen year of college - marching band is a front row ticket to the most amazing football games ever. I experience the definition of celebration and triumph when UF beats FSU after a long string of bitter losses. The stadium is chaos - the noise is deafening. We can’t stop screaming and hugging and jumping up and down. My ears continue to ring days after, my voice is barely a whisper.
20. Hearing my biological mother’s voice on the phone and spooked that our voices and laughter are the same.
21. The passing of both my mom and dad.
22. A brief moment of panic sets in when the 11 inch ponytail is cut off and my head relaxes, free from all that weight, for the first time since I was 2.
23. My first day as a music teacher - I am approached twice by faculty, “Why are you out of class? Do you have a hall pass?” This would continue once a month for the next 2 years.
24. Cooking with my siblings and the talks we would have at the kitchen table.
25. Watching the fireworks from the kitchen window in our apartment in Santa Cruz and hearing the cheers from the crowd mixed with the screams of people riding the roller coasters on the Boardwalk.