The lucky ones get to leap

No words about dementia.

Or freelancing.

Or squirrels.

The beach. A sunset. My red hat. The best Black Lab ever.

Today, it's all about me.

I will be 49 years old tomorrow.

I'm one year away from having lived for half a century.

And because it's a Leap Year, I get one extra day to enjoy life before I reach that mark.

Because it's all downhill after that, right?

As I look back on my life I've been blessed enough to have:

• wonderful parents

• fiercely devoted brothers

• a supportive extended family

• two daughters who have been my world

• a husband who holds my heart and my hands with the same passion

• two bonus sons who excel at loving others

• two bonus granddaughters who bring new life to each day

• countless pets who have brought comfort and happiness

• a pretty good mix of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

And without each of these, I would not be who I am today.

But, as I continue to think about my life, I realize that my bucket list may be close to full, but it's not quite there yet.

So this post is mainly for me.

I wanted to look back at my 49 years on this planet and have a picture of what I've experienced.

And can I just say?

Wow.

Stood under the Eiffel Tower	Was quarantined in Venice during the Swine Flu	Traveled around the whole of Ireland	Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
Stood next to Big Ben	Drank Dom Pérignon and Moët & Chandon	Ate escargot and cuisses de grenouilles in Paris	Paddleboated around Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
Been up close and personal with two moose	Have a Disney Annual Pass	Climbed Black Mountain, North Carolina	Stood at the top of the Empire State Building
Been to a Yankees game	Graduated from college at age 43	Been to the birth and resting place of Abraham Lincoln	Toured Windsor Castle
Hiked the Grand Canyon (part of it, like 1% of 1% of it)	Stood in wonder at the bottom of Bryce Canyon	Defied an early morning death at Zion National Park	Met most of the cast of The Princess Bride
Survived a weekend in Las Vegas	Stood within 2 feet of Sandhill Cranes	Worked in the world of books for 17 years	Been on a Caribbean cruise - once was enough
Survived walking through Times Square, NY	Sipped coffee and chicory and ate beignets at Cafe Du Monde	Saw snow, played in snow, been snowed on, made a snow angel	Drank Jameson and Guinness in pubs in Ireland
Snorkeled next to a shark and survived (barely)	Laid down on the glass ledge at the top of the Sears Tower	Walked by the Declaration of Independence and didn't steal it	Cried at the base of the Lincoln Memorial
Stood at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree	Held a letter handwritten by Abraham Lincoln at the Library of Congress	Watched a manned capsule launch at NASA	Stood at the shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built
Stepped foot in the Pacific Ocean	Sang with The Florida Orchestra	Saw a rainbow in Ireland	Sat in Ford's Theater and mourned
Toured the whole of Washington, D.C.	Serenaded by bagpipes in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day	Walked in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul on the streets of Rome	Met Anthony Daniels and David Prowse from Star Wars
Met Sue the T-Rex	Stood in the Supreme Court	Kissed the Blarney Stone	Stood in the Long Room Library at Trinity College

There's more. There's so much more.

I know I've left off many things that I've done or been a part of.

Apparently, without pictures right in front of me, I forget.

So I reserve the right to come back and add to this.

Just as I'm going to make sure I suck the marrow out of that extra day I get this year.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...” -- Henry David Thoreau

I know I said no squirrels. However...

On the day I started writing this post, this happened while I was having dinner at EPCOT.

Add one more box to that grid above.

A squirrel sat in my lap.

Pay no attention to the cookie in my hand. This squirrel only had eyes for me.

I use Amazon affiliate links, so if you buy something through them, I may earn a small commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Just helps keep the coffee flowing.