I am a list maker. Always have been. When I was teaching, I would keep a stenographer’s notebook with lists of tasks which needed to be done. Then I would artfully use a variety of colored pens to color out the tasks as they were finished. A rainbow of accomplishment! Now I use an app on my phone, tablet and laptop which syncs together so many lists that they are categorized in folders and assigned to different days. Overall, my lists are so long that I will most likely never finish many of the tasks before they become unimportant – which is also OK. My lists are living, evolving things.
But there is one list which is near and dear to my heart. We keep it in the Notes section on my phone, and it is entitled simply,
Our List
Our List has evolved through many bottles of wine, over dinners, while taking walks, and even while driving along in the car. The rules for the list are quite simple: It is the place for storing our dreams that begin with, “I wanna…”
- It is about activities that we wish to experience, not about accumulating things.
- Either of us can add a desire to the list.
- There is no veto power.
- No dream is too big, or too small.
Our list is now a couple of pages long, and ranges from the silly to the sublime. It includes things like “eat in every not-yucky restaurant in our town” to “zip-line somewhere where there are monkeys or parrots.” Everything from “jet-boat through Hells Canyon” to “The Guggenheim Museum.”
Every so often, we pull out the list, talk through the items, and prioritize what we should try to do next. That’s when we sometimes negotiate, adding and deleting from the list as our wishes change. (I, for example, no longer feel the need to mountain bike down our local ski hill!) There has never been any pressure about trying to complete the list in any given amount of time. And we most certainly are not considering “kicking” anything! It’s just a way for us to record all of our ambitious and sometimes stupid ideas!
The beautiful thing about our list is our commitment to it. It’s not really a bucket list, but rather our shared journey list. In the bigger picture, it is about our desire to fulfill each other’s dreams, to voyage through life together, and to share our experiences. A little sappy, I know…But we are committed to spending the rest of our lives trying to cross things off Our List!
An Encore Voyage 
Beautiful sentiment!😄
LikeLiked by 1 person
That looks like a great list! It’s a good idea to keep it on your phone (especially in case you great a great idea when you are out and about), but I’d also like to keep a hard copy in a place I can see everyday… that way it’s always top-of-mind. Btw, I’d add Napa Valley to your wine-tasting destinations… also California’s Central Coast. 🍷
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are absolutely right. I used to keep the list on my S-Memos (just on my phone) and when I upgraded phones, we LOST the list!!! Yikes – really pissed me off, but we recreated it. Now I keep the list on One Note. It’s stored safely in the cloud, and I can access it from any device. And yes, Napa Valley and the coast are going on the list NOW cuz, “I wanna”…
LikeLike
I am a list maker too. (I knew we were sisters… it just keeps getting better!) Your phrase “lists are living, evolving things” is awesome. I have lists for all kinds of things – including my Possibilities List. Alas, my husband is a list avoider. He hates them with a passion, but realizes I could not live without them. So his desires, whenever they get mentioned, are on my possibilities list. And why I’m planning a NOLA trip for May.
Another OMG moment – you live in Boise?!? One of my oldest and still best-est friends moved to Boise 4 years ago. Visiting her was one of the first things I did in retirement! Yes, it was on the list and now has a brilliant check mark. I like the rainbow cross out idea…but I use check marks on my electronic list. And X’s when I either tried it and it was not good, or it’s now dropped off for “no longer desired”.
Some of my more out-there items on my Possibilities List (besides zip-line, yes it’s on my list too): dog sledding, cross the Equator, see the Northern Lights, get a psychic reading, Route 66 by RV, and learn to swim.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Adding Northern Lights, dog sledding, route 66 and dog sledding right now! I use an app called Any Do. It’s free http://www.Any.Do (you can find it in your app store.) It lets me keep my lists and it syncs to all my devices – and you can categorize your lists, all while keeping it safely in the cloud. I have a category for home, personal, garden, etc.
And now maybe you have another reason to visit Boise again!
LikeLiked by 1 person
OK – you guys have got me all jazzed up! I too love lists and can not exist with them, I’m going to go talk to my husband right now and we’ll get ours started! Thanks for a great idea!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love lists. For a long time, I had no list. Now I have a long term list on my computer, a medium term list in my journal and my weekly and daily lists also in my journal/to-do lists.
I might steal that idea of multi colored pens so I too can have a rainbow of accomplishment 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now I keep the list on One Note, because I lost the list with my phone once, and we had to totally recreate it. Now safely tucked in the cloud!
LikeLike
I used to be a list freak! There was always a list on the fridge or the wipe board at home. At work, my work lists were in my Franklin Planner. I don’t do lists so much anymore… I think I just burned myself out on them. But I love your shared dream list! My husband isn’t too much of a dreamer – I think his very limited mobility tend to stifle his dreams. Maybe doing a shared dream list will help him imagine possibilities again! Thanks!
LikeLiked by 2 people
And the list doesn’t have to be big, grand travely (is that an adjective?) ideas. Sometimes it’s simple things like “spend the whole day in bed, watching old movies and snuggling with good books – and popcorn!”
LikeLiked by 2 people
We started semi-retirement with a list too. It IS fun checking things off, but more things keep being added too. I don’t want to miss anything!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s exactly right! And you need to keep it that way! Add ANYTHING that starts with “I wanna…” And never feel bad if the list never gets accomplished!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What did you teach? My husband taught in the public schools for 39 years and now continues as a part-time adjunct on the college level.
LikeLike
I was a special education resource teacher, for grades kindergarten through 6th for the better part of 30 years. Until the regulations and paperwork got the best of me…I always LOVED teaching the children!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Gifts and possibilities | Money My Slave
Add me to the ‘List Lovers Club’. It is now quite a large group of us (with many familiar names and faces)!
Donna
http://www.retirementreflections.com
LikeLike
Pingback: Just Book It! Seven Steps Toward Adventure | An Encore Voyage
Pingback: Just Book It – Seven Steps Toward Adventure | Encore Wanderings
Pingback: A Wanderer’s Digital Packing Tricks | An Encore Voyage
Pingback: A Wanderer’s Digital Packing Tricks | Encore Wanderings
Pingback: They’re Plans, Not Dreams | An Encore Voyage