"Decade List"

On face book someone recently had a potential "note" you could write that involved the top ten things you want to do in the next ten years. As I started writing, I found myself going in reverse and I realized that I have accomplished ALOT in these past 10 years myself of things I wanted to do. And I guess that It seemed more appropriate to me to put this on my blog instead of facebook. (As my internship supervisors are both on face book I am kind of proceeding with a lot of caution right now. Also, I think that this is more of the audience that is legitimately interested in what I have to say than if I put it on face book where everyone can see this)

THINGS I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE PAST 10 YEARS
(one item for every year that I am alive...)

1) I have been proposed to three times, yet I am still single. I feel the night is longer when the lad’s not right! This does not mean I won't give someone a chance though nor does it mean I want to ultimately be alone, but I must have done something right to have had three proposals...
2) I have a bachelors degree from Luther College in sociology
3) I had always wanted to work at Good Earth Village in Spring Valley when I was a kid because I loved Bible Camp, and I worked there during the summers in college
4) At my time at Luther I managed to stay in the vocal music department while not being a music major my entire time there and I was elected to church council, which I realize were probably not as easy as they might have felt at the time
5) I survived a car accident that should have killed me. And I got back on my own two feet, able to live independently.
6) I bought a car after I got back on my own two feet instead of letting the experience paralyze me with fear and moved into an apartment with a friend
7) I used time on disability when I started to feel better to do things that I had wanted to do: I helped at a food shelf, I performed in community theater, self published a book and I helped out with a confirmation program.
8) I worked at Target again after all of this was over, and in missing community and church involvement, was pro-active and decided to go to seminary.
9) I moved all the way across the country to Berkeley California to go to grad school
10) I served as a chaplain at Mayo Clinic
11) I interned at a nonviolence organization called Pace e Bene
12) I served my contextual requirements in two vastly different congregations. While I did prefer one over the other, having both experiences was eye opening to me.
13) I have taken classes at the graduate theological union where I have been exposed to a variety of ways of thinking about Christianity and spirituality
14) I moved into my own apartment
15) I have learned how to cook most of my food from scratch
16) I have learned how to get rid of books and movies when I feel like I do not need them around anymore (although they still somehow seem to accumulate)
17) I have went from being a very messy person to being a bit of a neat freak
18) I have been wine tasting in Napa several times
19) I sang “Creature of the Night” at a karaoke bar
20) I have had interesting conversations with people walking down Telegraph in Berkeley on the weekend
21) I got a tattoo
22) I have spent an entire day at the Chicago Art Institute
23) I had a conversation with Barbara Ehernreicht at a workers justice conference.
24) As I referred to in #7 I self published a book this one deserves its own category
25) I managed to sucessfully drive my car all the way across the country after my first semester of Berkeley
26) I survived a whole year of New Testament Greek. (I can no longer say its greek to me all the time, although I wont pretend to be profiecent at it either)
27) I have learned that it is okay to prefer to watch "Buffy" or to do well on my schoolwork over going to a large party with my precious spare time
28) I have started to view looking young for my age as an asset instead of a liability
29)I am almost done with the academic component of my masters of divinity

I realize that I have had a very full life that God has blessed me with so much. I have learned that some of the best things are not necessarily planned, but it is still a good idea to have an idea of things you want to do in this life. So I could think of a few things for my own "decade" list:


1) Do a Spanish immersion trip so that I can say more than “habla no espanol” and so that I really can have a deeper understanding for south American culture.
2) Take dance classes…if I do this, I will be able to say that I have trained in voice, acting AND dance just because I wanted to.
3) Take acting classes again… honestly I have always been thrilled by every aspect of the theater for as long as I can remember, its just that I set it aside when I realized that I did not want to do this professionally. But I still dream of being in a musical and I do need some kind of hobby!
4) Live somewhere for at least 5 years! That’s long enough to provide continuous pastoral care and leadership to a congregation, to possibly buy a house, to really shop for furniture, to be open to being in a long term romantic relationship, to watch friends’ children grow up, to be involved in a variety of aspects of a community theater or music program. I guess that this is more than just one thing in this statement, but its very much a vision that I have for myself.
5) To take a trip to New York so that I can say that I have hung in every corner of the country. (I have already done Florida, Washington and I currently live in CA, seriously, I just need one more to say BINGO)
6) To go from living off of loans to paying off loans
7) Start working on a phD in sociology of religion

Maybe I will check many of these off my list in the next ten years, and I will probably also have a few things that I will add to the list as to what God has blessed me with in terms of experiences that I have had!!!