40 Goals before 40

I turned 35 today. In some ways I feel old (especially when my back and body aches. Oh, and when I see yet another annoying white hair sprouting up), in some ways I still feel immature and young (sometimes I still wonder what I want to be when I grow up, although those moments are becoming fewer and fewer as I accept that I was probably born to be a lawyer). Mainly I wonder how time flew by so fast - I feel like the years between 25 and 35 went by in a blur. It's insane to me that I graduated high school half my lifetime ago and that my ten year reunion has already passed. Not for high school, not even for college, but for law school! Yikes.

I used to make an annual bucketlist - I need to give myself concrete, short-term timeframes so I prefer an annual list to a lifetime list. In the past few years, that list has gotten lamer and lamer. For example, in my 20's a typical list would look something like: climb Macchu Picchu, visit a country in Africa, run 100 miles every month. In more recent years my list has become shorter and lamer - i.e. get a promotion. Eww, what kind of bucketlist goal is that?

So I'm creating a list of 40 things I want to do before I turn 40, although I'm a bit dubious about whether it's all doable because 40 goals is kind of a lot.

1.  Run a 10K
2.  Learn to play tennis

3.  Trek Mount Everest (I don't mean reach Mt. Everest's summit, I mean trek somewhere on the mountain)

4.  Visit Bhutan

5.  Eat a hopper in Sri Lanka

6.  Eat tea leaf salad in Myanmar

7.  African Safari

8.  See the Northern Lights

9.  Finish writing a piece of fiction, whatever the length

10. Grand Canyon

11. Learn to bake a kickass apple pie from scratch

12. Learn how to make good kimchi

13. Snowboard down a black diamond without braking all the way down

14. Venice

15. Salar de Uyuni

16. Find something to be grateful for, every single day, however small or big. And thank God out loud for that thing.

17. Snail mail a handwritten thank you note

18. Shoot a bow and arrow

19. Patagonia

20. Bake a layered rainbow cake

21. Figure out a long-term care plan for my halmuni

22. Eat at Noma

23. Become a GC 

24. Create a will

25. A week in Paris

26. Mallorca

27. Malta

28. Learn the art of listening well

29. Learn to be comfortable with public speaking

30. Go fishing. And catch a fish.

31. Shoot a gun

32. Go on a camping trip! (this one gets an exclamation mark because I love camping - fresh air, nature, and why is it that kimchi stew made with canned beans and pork over a fire tastes so freaking delicious?)

33. Bike trip through Italy or Spain

34. Drink an entire mug of ice cold beer (I've never had more than a sip and hate the taste of beer)

35. Make dumplings from scratch

36. Play a round of golf

37. Learn how to be a good wife to my husband

38. Have a baby, and be a good mother to that baby.

39. Have a second baby, and be a good mother to that baby.

40. Depending on how #38 and #39 go, if it is a wise decision, have a third baby. And try to survive.