30 AFTER 30: The Adventure List

My beautiful friend Ronne has not only a way with words, but an outlook on every part of life that breathes inspiration into my own whenever I get the chance to read her stories. Early in our friendship, I read her “Adventure List” – and equally poignant, her description of why she wrote one.  I’ve had a handful of these lists in different forms throughout my life, but had never come across such beautiful motivation to maintain one.

The big day came and went – Thirty. Years. Old.

Ronne wrote, “Life itself is just that – a strange, beautiful, joyful, painful, messy, miracle of an adventure.  Every single breath of it is a divine gift from God Almighty… [I want to] write a list of adventures and share it with others, so when I’m feeling less than brave about living every ounce of life to the fullest, I can be reminded that every day I’m alive is an opportunity to be a song of praise to my King.”

I kind of feel like I should write a post on those words themselves, but I’ll stick to the plan.  My “30 AFTER 30”, which almost certainly will not include only thirty items and which is absolutely intentional about the open-endedness of “after 30”.  (So why bother calling it that?  Start here.)

Thirty AFTER Thirty

1. finish what I started in school: a degree I want not one I settle for, even if nothing comes of it. And even if it means starting over from scratch only to then have two or three degrees I may or may not use

2. get a tattoo – I can’t wait to share what and why, but don’t want to until it’s done.  Check back. 🙂

3. visit six continents, with Antarctica as a bonus 🙂 – my largest “dream” would be to visit each and every country in the world. All of them. The ones with breathtaking vistas and undeniable beauty and adventure.  The ones that are war-torn, poverty-stricken and just forgotten blips on the map… because I’m pretty sure there is beauty and adventure to find in each of them.  Of course, that’s beyond audacious, and perhaps not all that safe.  Each continent is a start.  (Africa | Antarctica | Asia | Australia | Europe | North America | South America)

4. finish a marathon  

5. learn to fly a plane

6. return to Rome, this time with Kyle

7. ride in a hot air balloon

8. record an album

9. get a photograph published

10. drive Route 66 (or take a similar cross-country trip)

11. write and record an original song – just one. Unless God reveals a different plan for me, I’m not to be a songwriter. I’m  perfectly happy with that.

12. pay off “all” of our debt – Now don’t go all Dave Ramsey on me, but I’m ignoring the mortgage and Kyle’s medical school mortgage loans.  

13. audit a really random college course just for fun – I always assumed I’d be a professional student, and can still think of about four degrees I’d like (none of which are the one I have).

14. go on a mission trip with my kids

15. take my two grandmothers on a vacation – or at least a couple of really neat day trips 🙁 

16. visit one of the world’s most spectacular waterfalls (preferably Angel Falls or Victoria Falls) – Niagara is not included, though of course it is amazing. I’m sure we’ll go back there with our kids anyway.

17. take my parents on an international trip Ok, I’m counting this one without any hesitation. We booked a cruise with them for exactly this reason, then our ports of call on that particular cruise were all US territories… except Castaway Cay which, though owned by this little American corporation known colloquially as “Disney”, is technically a Bahamian island to which we sailed on a Bahamian registered vessel.

18. visit New England in the Fall

19. take an Adventures by Disney trip (September 2017, Adventures in China!)

20. visit Hawaii

21. visit Cuba (preferably during the embargo or as quickly after as possible, before the country is changed forever) (Haha… this one makes me laugh. I went for the first time in September 2018 and proceeded to go on a total of 4 trips (thus far) in 16 months. What a story that God had in the works since I was literally a child…)

22. visit all the Disney parks Worldwide (Magic Kingdom | Epcot | Disney Studios | Animal Kingdom | Disneyland Park | California Adventure | Disneyland Park Paris | Disney Studios Paris | Tokyo Disneyland | Tokyo DisneySea | Hong Kong Disneyland | Shanghai Disney Resort

23. go on a Zorb globe ride 

24. attend at least one of the following: Super Bowl, World Series finals game, Stanely Cup finals game, World Cup, Olympics, US Open

25. see U2 in concert (July 2017 at Soldier Field in Chicago)

26. ride something bigger than a horse… and not while someone holds the camel or elephant on a rope for a few hundred feet.

27. photograph the Northern Lights

28. ride along in a Fighter Jet

29. ride a gondola in Venice

30. visit all 50 states – inside airports or driving through doesn’t count

(Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas |  California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming)

31. learn to surf

32. tip 100% on a meal

33. visit an ice hotel

34. watch a space shuttle launch (in person)

35. experience zero-gravity

38. take my girls to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular

39. Visit Dominique Ansel bakery in NYC

40. Swim with a Dolphin

41. Write a book

42. Spend NYE in Time’s Square

43. See the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person

44. Take my family back to Israel

45. Climb Machu Picchu

46. Spend time on all six largest Hawaiian Islands (Hawaii | Kauai | Oahu | Maui | Molokai | Lanai)

47. visit Capri and explore the Blue Grotto

48. Hug a Giant Panda cub

49. star in a community theater show

50. learn to play the ukulele (check!) and perform somewhere

51. drive through a Redwood tree trunk

52. give someone a car

53. zipline in a rainforest

54. check everything off of my Disney Bucket List

I’m sure I’ll keep adding more… but hopefully not faster than I can cross some off! 🙂

What are some things on your list?

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