Responding to "my bucket list"
Ten years ago, when I was just 19, I wrote a short and sweet bucket list. As I celebrated the 30th of a dear friend a few weeks ago and find myself starting to think about the last year of my 3rd decade, and the traditional "things to do before your thirty" lists, this bucket list came to mind. And as I read through it, I was pleasantly surprised by how I have lived into those desires of my 19 year old self over the past ten years.
At the top of my list in 2010 was a desire to "find a home of my own, either a place, a person, or a people that I can come back to time and time again." I was willing to wait on this one, but I am so grateful that I didn't have to wait too long. In 2013 I found my person and we chose to walk through life together in 2016. Since then we have built a home for ourselves in KW close to my siblings - a place. But also, through the mystery of marriage, I have come to share in the stability of his family home in Virginia - another place. While my family (still always my people) is scattered across the continent and around the globe, and my childhood and college took place in three different time zones, almost all of Matt's family lives within 4 hours of his childhood home. In attaching myself to him, the drive we make down to visit his family at least once a year AND the drive we make back up to KW have both begun to feel like coming home. I don't think 2010 me would have expected that :)
My 2010 bucket list includes a few smaller items - such as to "spend time living on the water", "interpret history" and "travel" that I can also check off. We spent the first night of our honeymoon on a houseboat, I got to travel in the Middle East for three months back in 2016, and I have regularly volunteered to give tours at the Brubacher House over the past three years. It's fun to think that these items were important enough for me to add to my list, and that I have managed to fit them into my life over the past 10 years. That doesn't mean that I don't want to do more traveling and spending time with water over the next 10 years:)
I have yet to accomplish the goal of hitchhiking - maybe I will fold that into my before 30 plans?
I also had the ambitious goal "to find a place where my gifts, my love for academia and for justice, can help change the world." At the time I was set on a law degree. A few years ago I thought that a degree in sociology with research in restorative justice might do it. Today I'm not sure if there is "a place," but there are certainly places where I have made and continue to make an impact for good in my community. My weekly volunteer work with Community Justice Initiatives is one such place. Maybe as I think about a before 30 list - or another visioning list for the next decade - I can continue to imagine spaces where my passions and gifts can bring about positive change.
My 2010 list ends with some big ticket items, such as "to live in community" and "to love." Both of these aspirations have been significant for me over the last decade - as I explored living in community in "Granola United" and "The Pit of Awesomeness" at college, in a year of MVS in Rochester, and for the past 3 years at "The Fireside." As I continue to adjust to living in a community of three (Matt, me, and the dog), I am learning to prioritize other sorts of communities - my church community (including the young adult group and book club), my family community [especially in the new role of aunt since my nephew joined the world in December (soon to be joined by a few other nieces/nephews this summer!)], and my friendships - both in KW and afar. Learning to love weaves it's way through all of these spaces, and was central to the dating, engagement, and getting married part of the relationship with Matt - my home person - that was a very significant part of the past decade. :) And, as I have noticed while starting to get to know my nephew over the past few months, there is always more to learn about love.
As I look forward towards a refocusing phase - the end of a work contract in few weeks, the approaching "things to do before 30" list, the energy that comes with spring - I wonder how these ambitions - home, community, purpose, love - might manifest themselves in my life. What goals do I want to live into? What should I put on my next bucket list?
At the top of my list in 2010 was a desire to "find a home of my own, either a place, a person, or a people that I can come back to time and time again." I was willing to wait on this one, but I am so grateful that I didn't have to wait too long. In 2013 I found my person and we chose to walk through life together in 2016. Since then we have built a home for ourselves in KW close to my siblings - a place. But also, through the mystery of marriage, I have come to share in the stability of his family home in Virginia - another place. While my family (still always my people) is scattered across the continent and around the globe, and my childhood and college took place in three different time zones, almost all of Matt's family lives within 4 hours of his childhood home. In attaching myself to him, the drive we make down to visit his family at least once a year AND the drive we make back up to KW have both begun to feel like coming home. I don't think 2010 me would have expected that :)
My 2010 bucket list includes a few smaller items - such as to "spend time living on the water", "interpret history" and "travel" that I can also check off. We spent the first night of our honeymoon on a houseboat, I got to travel in the Middle East for three months back in 2016, and I have regularly volunteered to give tours at the Brubacher House over the past three years. It's fun to think that these items were important enough for me to add to my list, and that I have managed to fit them into my life over the past 10 years. That doesn't mean that I don't want to do more traveling and spending time with water over the next 10 years:)
I have yet to accomplish the goal of hitchhiking - maybe I will fold that into my before 30 plans?
I also had the ambitious goal "to find a place where my gifts, my love for academia and for justice, can help change the world." At the time I was set on a law degree. A few years ago I thought that a degree in sociology with research in restorative justice might do it. Today I'm not sure if there is "a place," but there are certainly places where I have made and continue to make an impact for good in my community. My weekly volunteer work with Community Justice Initiatives is one such place. Maybe as I think about a before 30 list - or another visioning list for the next decade - I can continue to imagine spaces where my passions and gifts can bring about positive change.
My 2010 list ends with some big ticket items, such as "to live in community" and "to love." Both of these aspirations have been significant for me over the last decade - as I explored living in community in "Granola United" and "The Pit of Awesomeness" at college, in a year of MVS in Rochester, and for the past 3 years at "The Fireside." As I continue to adjust to living in a community of three (Matt, me, and the dog), I am learning to prioritize other sorts of communities - my church community (including the young adult group and book club), my family community [especially in the new role of aunt since my nephew joined the world in December (soon to be joined by a few other nieces/nephews this summer!)], and my friendships - both in KW and afar. Learning to love weaves it's way through all of these spaces, and was central to the dating, engagement, and getting married part of the relationship with Matt - my home person - that was a very significant part of the past decade. :) And, as I have noticed while starting to get to know my nephew over the past few months, there is always more to learn about love.
As I look forward towards a refocusing phase - the end of a work contract in few weeks, the approaching "things to do before 30" list, the energy that comes with spring - I wonder how these ambitions - home, community, purpose, love - might manifest themselves in my life. What goals do I want to live into? What should I put on my next bucket list?
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