35 and alive

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I saw something the other week while scrolling Facebook, and I can’t even remember what it was now... but I immediately realized that I needed to record a list of all the things I’ve missed and/or want to do when my recovery is complete. Celebrating my milestone 35th birthday in the hospital was NOT anywhere on my lifetime bucket list, but it has reminded me that things could have turned out way differently for me. And that I want to live the second half of my life much differently than the first. Some of these things are one time deals, some are just things I’ve missed, and some I may spend the rest of my life cultivating. But I want to do that with intention now. And I want it transparent so that my friends and loved ones can enjoy the journey with me or can at least cheer me on from the sidelines! 


  1. Take a ridiculously long shower... by myself
  2. Sleep in the same bed as my husband, especially without this tube coming out of my back 
  3. Go on the anniversary trips/vacations we had to cancel
  4. Take our dogs for walks at the lake 
  5. Get my weight under control
  6. Stop speaking negatively about my body 
  7. Master my trauma responses without them mastering me 
  8. Go hiking on Saturday mornings with my husband 
  9. Practice POUND, yoga, and Zumba again 
  10. Teach POUND again
  11. Water and care for my own flowers 
  12. Eat at the Cheesecake Factory
  13. Sit and talk in the coffee shop
  14. Attend a concert with my husband 
  15. Host a game night or cookout at our house 
  16. Be intentional about service opportunities for others in need (like I was) 
  17. Run in another 5K (especially a color run) 
  18. Train to run in a 5K so I can get my stamina back up after all this 
  19. Go to the beach 
  20. Enjoy a very long massage (I’m talking like 90 minute or 2 hours)
  21. Learn how to put on false eyelashes 
  22. Enjoy another Braves baseball game at Suntrust Park
  23. Go on a train ride
  24. Pick strawberries at Bennett Farms (or somewhere else)
  25. Go back to an Alabama football game
  26. Go back to watch a movie at the drive in, maybe even Quiet Place 2
  27. Play putt putt with my husband 
  28. Swing on a swing set and a porch swing 
  29. Pick pumpkins at the pumpkin patch
  30. Stroll the botanical gardens 
  31. Get frozen yogurt on a hot summer day, even if it’s only at Sam’s food court 
  32. Enjoy a snowbiz by the lake and ballparks back home 
  33. Do one of those dates where you randomly pick things around the superstore 
  34. Go kayaking again (I may regret this one) 
  35. Smash things in a rage room (I hear there’s one in Huntsville) 
  36. Learn to throw axes or at least try it one time
  37. Enjoy date night at TopGolf again 
  38. Take a ballroom or salsa dancing class with the hubs 
  39. Lift 15s easily again 
  40. Get my hair styled, make up professionally done, wear a fancy dress, and go out somewhere nice 
  41. Go back to where my husband proposed and hear him tell me about that day
  42. See a Broadway show (even if it’s local)
  43. Practice shooting again with a gun that makes me feel comfortable and confident 
  44. Get my nails done on the regular again 
  45. Worship on Sunday mornings again beside my husband 
  46. Attend a marriage retreat with my husband 
  47. Visit the Beltline in Atlanta 
  48. Eat donuts at Five Daughters Bakery 
  49. Take my husband to the Georgia Aquarium and World of Coke
  50. Go to Homestead Hollow and finally get a chocolate covered apple again
  51. Go antiquing (preferably with my husband) 
  52. Build Christmas projects with my man
  53. Put up the tree together {early this year!}
  54. Try Cookie Magic for the first time 
  55. Eat pizza, pretzels, and froyo on a date to Sam’s 
  56. Take a kickboxing class
  57. Use some really good self tanner to look all summery 
  58. Plant a raised bed garden 
  59. Leave random anonymous gifts for people just to brighten their day
  60. Give blood
  61. Take my husband to his first ever hockey game 
  62. Go to Calloway Gardens
  63. See a hot air balloon race/festival
  64. Solve a murder mystery box 
  65. Sip Sonic drinks at the top of Mountain Street again on a Sunday afternoon
  66. Eat Bubbarito’s 
  67. Have a fire in the backyard 
  68. Watch the fireworks in the back of my husband’s pickup truck 
  69. Get sushi and spill the tea with my crew 
  70. Have a romantic picnic 
  71. Enjoy a hot bubble bath or a hot tub when I get this tube out of my back 
  72. Go to a craft show with mom
  73. Take my nephew to McDonald’s to get a Happy Meal
  74. Take a road trip to visit my best friend 
  75. Plant wildflowers on the front bank
  76. Repaint the kitchen table from where my nail polish remover ate the paint off the table and other little household projects 
  77. Remodel the laundry room
  78. Tackle trivia night at Mellow Mushroom
  79. Visit new waterfalls 
  80. Watch the new Fast & Furious installment with mom 
  81. Lose enough weight to feel comfortable and confident returning to a theme park... preferably the Wizarding World of Harry Potter 
  82. Play Bingo at Struts with mom
  83. Renew my National Boards (eek!)
  84. Throw a pizza party for my students for all the things they’ve been thru since the pandemic 


I’m sure I can keep adding to this list, and I may do it just to keep it going and to keep it all in one place. I wanted to reach 35 things (for turning 35), and then 50, and then 75... and now I want 100 things on the list!  Wouldn’t that be something?  But I’m stuck now, and it’s late as I’m writing this.  And it’s probably good for my perfectionist and compulsive nature to intentionally stop on a non-multiple of zero or five. (If you know, you know...) 


Truly I guess it doesn’t matter how many things are on the list or how many things I accomplish off the list, as long as I  remember how blessed I am to keep working on the list... BECAUSE I’M STILL ALIVE. 


And I guess after all I’ve been through lately, 35 is a great year to be alive. 

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