48 Things about me – Living Life – Here’s to Another Birthday!

Heading into my birthday week always brings reflection about as I ponder my last year, think ahead to coming years and dream and wonder what life is really about . I see people often creating their bucket lists for 48 things to do for the year. Yep – I should and/or could do that but I think that would add more stress and anxiety to my high-paced, crazy life .

 

Instead – I decided to think about 48 things that have enriched my life and given me memories that make me laugh, shake my head, and desire to create and do more. I am not going to say these are life-changing memories. Some may even think they are dumb or why would I remember the moment but here you go, in no order – 48 things about me, my life experiences that have shaped me to become the person I am today. There are many, many more but I’ll stop for now.

 

1. In grade2, I went around for an entire year telling everyone I was Tracy Zala and I was adopted.
2. I’ve snorkeled at Hanauma Bay, Hawaii.
3. I have over 300 pairs of shoes in my house – just for me.
4. I have a lip gloss collection and have over $1000 of lip glosses – go figure.
5. I rode an elephant up to the Amber Fort in Jaipur, India.
6. I have had a pen-pal since grade 3 and never met her. Her name is Janelle and she lives in New Jersey.
7. I got a soccer cleat in my right skin and stuck my thumb in the hole in grade 10 – needed stitches and cleaning.
8. I got kicked off a city bus with Jessica for singing Roxy Roller and being really drunk.
9. I have been to Camp Pendleton.
10. I took an Amtrak train to New Orleans.
11. I tried to get arrested in Canmore but instead was followed by an annoying RCMP officer.
12. I hitchhiked with Jessica and an old man picked us up and talked about not being able to see white cars…scary ride!
13. I rode around in a car with friends often with DP (dead person)a blown up skeleton. He got the front seat.
14. I have seen Old Faithfull with Drew and Les.
15. I was stuck in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with no money and a broken truck in a KOA campground.
16. I passed a white water kayaking course and could do an Eskimo roll in my kayak!
17. I have travelled in a car going over 240kpm with Drew in Montana.
18. I grew up shrimping off the public docks as a child on Piers Island.
19. I use to enjoy feeding the raccoons dog food at my grandparent’s house as a kid.
20. My dear childhood friend died of cancer in grade 5.
21. I use to love going to the basement of my grandparent’s Galliano island house and looking for dead rats and mice in traps as a kid. We would also go search in the forest every year for an Xmas tree too.
22. I spent summers going to Hawaii as a child where we had a condo and my brother and I would drop coconuts off the 8th floor to the ground.
23. I got to roam free on Piers Island and loved buying honey bars for .75 cents from Mrs. Hoyt.
24. I smoked Arbutus bark with my brother in the tree as a kid.
25. I smashed my face and had to get a root canal on front tooth when I stole my brother’s red ride and rode it down the bike hill.
26. I have been pulled over and given a ticket by Military police.
27. I have stuffed 4 people into an gen 1 RX7.
28. I tried gin and pink lemonade under the Gait’s deck on Piers island.
29. I fell off a dock when I was under 5 years old – survived!
30. I have crossed many things off my bucket list that I created when I was 16 years old.
31. I have driven around with my friend and her kids in her big van honking at fire hydrants for fun.
32. I have lost my license 2x in my life for too many demerits.
33. I got to roam Piers island where the Doukhobors lived many , many years before us and the remnants of their homesteads still existed.
34. I ate at one of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurants in England and he was there that evening!
35. I almost drown in Hawaii when I was a kid playing Marco Polo, blindfolded in the pool.
36. I got to write prayer flags and hang them on a sacred tree in China with Drew and Christa at a temple.
37. I have kept every note, card, etc people have given me through my entire life.
38. I spent many joyful weekends with my Grandparents and their dog Duffy going for walks, picking fruit from their trees, cutting their grass for $10 and eating matrimony cake.
39. I got escorted off the military base by military police in Hawaii.
40. I performed CPR on a guy that got stabbed badly.
41. I have watched the sunrise with Drew and Jessica at the Haleakala volcano on Maui.
42. I have an original painting created just for me from a well-known artist in Victoria.
43. I have 2 pairs of Dock Martin boots that I got when I was in my early 20’s and still wear them.
44. I have tried a Snakebite drink in England.
45. I took music lessons from grade 6 to grade 12 for the saxophone and went to the Lionel Hampton jazz festival in Idaho as a kid.
46. I have my restricted and unrestricted gun license.
47. I crossed the US border as a 20 year old with marijuana in my cowboy boot to meet Jen S. in California.
48. I have been with Drew for just over 26 years and have travelled the world, moved, cried, laughed, fought and loved each other and still am happily married.

What has made your life great? What do you hope to do in your life? How does one know if there life has been rich and full? I am not sure I have these answers and truthfully I think life is about just this….. the experiences we create, the memories good and bad and the simplistic joy of being. I can’t really say whether I have lived the most exciting, adventurous life but I know it has been full and I feel love for all the memories I have.

Share with me something you would like to do with me at some point in my life and I will jot it down and we will make a plan. Let’s live and enjoy – time is flying by. Happy Birthday to me and here is to 48 more years of adventures to come!