in preparation for the summer

During a slow but apparently thoughtful evening 4.5 years ago, I jotted down some life goals in a notebook. A year or two later, I was grudgingly sorting through old papers in my parents' house (because their home is NOT my "personal storage unit") and found the list lying dormant among lined pages of outdated to-do lists, anonymous phone numbers, travel arrangements and half-baked lesson plans. A few items on said list were revised and the updated list securely archived in my e-mail account.

Four and a half years later, a surprising number of items on that quiet list have been accomplished: pay off my college debt by age 24; spend at least three consecutive months on all six inhabitable continents (4/6); provide a child with a home, even for just a little while; become fluent in Spanish. Others have been veto'd (get my teaching certification, sew something I'd wear in public) or still not accomplished (become functional in a 3rd language, go SCUBA diving, flip a property). Point is, writing them down seems to be important. Though I have traded the poetry of the pen for the efficiency of the typed word, this blog and the preparation that has gone into it serve a similar purpose: a space to develop, challenge and clarify myself and use goal-setting to align my actions and decisions with my clearer values.

Bucket Lists are popular now, but the problem with Before-I-Die lists, whether mine or those of pubescent boys on MTV, is that we don't know when our time runs out. And for a chronically short-sighted twenty-seven-year-old with a life expectancy of 90+ years, the time frame is unfathomable. The Day Zero Project offers a shorter commitment filled with sexy palindromes perfect for those of my demographic: 101 goals in 1001 days. And because I come from a culture that makes entirely too much fuss about birthdays ending in zero, my list of 101 goals has a deadline of my thirtieth birthday. To invoke the imagery of Lew Wallace, I hope this exercise serves as a tool of self-preparation for the summer of my life.