Some Things I Want To Do Before I Die

I just read an article in the Globe and Mail about some young guys from BC, Canada who are going around in a beat up old van ticking off things on their "things they want to do before they die" list. One of the things was to appear on Oprah and, guess what, they are appearing tomorrow afternoon!  


That set me to thinking.  


I have done a lot of things in my life, about which many people have exclaimed 'my, what an interesting life you've had' and 'you should write a book about all the things you've done'. Etc.


I am writing a memoir but not about the things I have done that would go on a list like this. Maybe I should also make a list of all the things I HAVE done and see if there's also a book in that?


Anyway, here's a list of things I haven't already done and want to do before I die:

• Finish climbing Kilimanjaro
•  There's a story there
• Learn to speak fluent Spanish 
• reasonable but needs lots of work
• Learn to speak fluent French 
• it's pretty good but needs work
• Live in Spain
• Something I've wanted to do for ages and now actually see the possibility. Working on that now. Watch this space
• Go to Japan
• I read a book called Daughter of The Samurai when I was about 10 and became obsessed with going to Japan. I want to mainly go to the mountains and countryside but also want to experience Tokyo and Osaka. I feel like I lived there before.
• Climb Mt. Fuji
• I drew countless pictures of Mt. Fuji as a child and my father used to pin them up on the wall above his desk. I must have done hundreds. Weird, I know.
• Publish a book
• Working on that now. 
• Go to Buenos Aires  
• No particular reason other than it's a place of interest and, if I learn Spanish fluently, I will be able to have an even more interesting time there.
• Dance the Tango
• I learned to Samba in the 80s in California but never to Tango other than the occasional time my father got me to dance with him. 
• Own a pair of pointe shoes
• I wanted to be a ballerina when I was a child and had ballet shoes. My father gave me a gift of a book about Anna Pavlova when I helped him to plant a plum and a damson tree in our garden (They're still there. The house is now a home for abandoned and troubled traveler children). I never got to learn ballet as my father did not approve of it and also we lived so far in the mountains that getting me to ballet classes was not an option; not to mention the perceived favouritism when you come from a large family.
• Be really fit again
• I used to be the fitness queen and it seems I have been suffering from adrenal burnout for many years and need to heal from that in order to get really fit again. It will be slow but I know I can do it.
• Learn herbalism
• An interest that keeps growing by the day. I have had many good results from herbal treatments and feel a need to go back to basics and learn as much as I can about how plants can heal.
• Finish all the knitting and stitching projects I have on the go
• They're everywhere. Here in Canada. In storage in Ireland. In storage in England.
• Cool down so I can tolerate humidity and visit South East Asia
• I learned today that the reason my body temperature is so low and my blood pressure also so low is because of adrenal burnout. It makes tolerating humid heat very difficult. If I can get healed up it means I can go to hot countries I have avoided for years.
• Go back to Botswana (is that cheating since I've been there already?)
• I loved Botswana. I worked there, off and on, for about 2 years and have good friends there that I often miss. I never got to go on the full safari experience there so would like to go back and do that.
• Own a Bichon Frise again (I still miss my Minnehaha)

• I had to give up my beloved pooch when it turned out my building did not allow animals. I was completely devastated and still am. I miss her every day. I console myself with the fact that she is with a lovely family. I can barely stand to look at photos of her. (Nevertheless, I had to share a photo of her with you)

(I notice I'm going back to wanting to do things I've done already but am not complete with.  I also notice that a lot of it is about traveling so...)

• Make enough money to be able to travel comfortably and often
• Working on that one too. It might take a while....
• Own a house in at least two places
• See above....
• Have a huge party that ALL my friends from around the world can attend
• Last time I had a HUGE party was for my 40th. Maybe for my 60th?
• See the opera Norma on stage

This is not an exhaustive list so I am sure I will come back to this at some point.