101 Things to Do Before I Die

So months ago my computer thought it would be fun to delete all my documents, pictures and music. Before you start feeling sorry for me, you should know that I had prepared for such an occasion and I had everything backed up and was able to retrieve it all. (If any of you want to know how exactly I was able to retrieve all my documents, I will share the secret willingly. I just did not want to seem like a salesman working overtime by telling you without requests.) Anyway, many of the documents I actually did not retrieve until last night. One of the most important documents was my 101 list.

Way back when (if you must know exact dates, it was 10 years ago), my friend Melissa and I were both seniors in high school and I had this great idea. First of all I heard a story about someone who had made a list of things to do before he died and had accomplished most of them. He had some pretty spectacular things on the list. This taught me the importance of having lists. I have loved lists ever since. Second of all I was worried about losing touch with Melissa. The idea was this: we would both make a list of "101 things to do before I die" and make a copy. The original we would keep our selves, the copy we would exchange. Everytime we would cross an item off the list we would not only mark it off on our own list, but we would have to send a note to the other person to mark it off on their copy of our list. This way we would stay in touch, and it would motivate us to work on our lists.

Melissa never made her list. That part of the excellent plan did not work. Which taught me a lesson in life that did not really start to sink in until about a year ago. It is impossible to talk someone into something that they really just do not care about, and that apathy sinks in very quickly.

However, I have made some great progress on my list. I made sure to put all sorts of things on my list. Items that could be accomplished tomorrow if I made the effort, items that would require some planning and money, items that had expiration dates on them, and items that would take many years to complete. For example, item #95 was to watch the sunset on December 31st 1999, and item #12 was to watch the sunrise on January 1st 2000. I completed #95 with my Dad and my brother and I completed #12 with Victoria. Item #1 is Ring the closing bell on Wall St, this one will take some connections. Item #55 is to read 1000 books. I counted last night and I am only up to 321 (I started the book list when I was a freshman in high school). I made lots of rules, some of which I have changed. When I first made the list I thought some things were important, now I do not care about those things, so I made amendments. One of the newest and favorite amendments is to #11. It now reads, Experience a baseball games at the top ten baseball stadiums. I have three marked off so far, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and my favorite so far....Fenway.

Anyway, I love my list and I am very happy that I was reconnected with my list. I would encourage anyone and everyone I know to make a list. They make you do things you would never do otherwise, like go out of your way to eat a mango in Paris, or walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, or walk around Walden Pond, or learn to fence, or climb a palm tree.