Life's Passages

This past weekend we flew to Northern California for the wedding of Paul's youngest brother. It was held in a lovely garden setting overlooking a vineyard. It was a beautiful wedding and a fun and lively reception and interestingly for me the first Jewish wedding that I had ever attended. I found it very challenging to try to get the photographs I wanted at the wedding and my hat is definitely off to wedding photographers. I can't imagine the pressure of having to capture all those special moments.

All of the grandchildren on Paul's side of the family took part in some way in the wedding and Emily & Hannah were no exception. Both of our girls served as guest book attendants and they did a great job even going from table to table to make sure that people had signed the guest book and received a copy of the program for the wedding.

Paul and all of his siblings also played a part in the wedding either as groomsmen or as huppah carriers.

Mazel Tov Steve & Katya!

We're quickly approaching another of life's passages. In less than a week, Emily will be starting her freshman year at high school. We went to the school today for an appointment with her counselor since she hadn't been assigned any elective for the year. Emily really wanted to take dance but since she's in so many honors classes she can only have an elective in certain periods and dance wasn't available. So, she'll get her computer class requirement out of the way either by testing out of the class or by taking it the first semester and she'll get at least one semester of her PE requirement fulfilled.

In less than two months, on October 20th, I'm going to have a major life passage of my own as I turn 50! As I approach that milestone, I find myself reflecting on my life - on what I've done and what I would still like to do. It's common on the Internet to find a list of things to do before you die and so I thought I'd come up with one of my own but I'm calling mine Things I Want To Do in the Next 50 Years!

• Travel and Travel-related:
• Visit all 50 states - I'm 26 short of this goal right now as I have visited:
1. Washington
2. Oregon
3. California
4. Hawaii
5. Nevada
6. Arizona
7. New Mexico
8. Utah
9. Colorado
10. Missouri
    
11. Texas
12. Nebraska
13. Louisiana
14. Illinois
15. Minnesota
16. Michigan
17. Tennesse
18. Alabama
19. Pennsylvania
20. New York
21. Connecticut
22. New Jersey
23. Massachusetts
24. Rhode Island
• Visit Ireland and kiss the Blarney Stone
• Take a cruise along the fjords of Norway
• Visit England and have a pint in a British Pub
• Share a kiss in Paris
• Visit the pyramids in Egypt
• Hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu - Check out the virtual hike at http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/SouthAmerica/Peru/IncaTrail/
• Visit Australia & New Zealand
• Go to Disneyworld
• Visit Washington, D.C
• Visit Catalina
• Take a 2nd honeymoon to Lake Louise
• Go to Mardi Gras in New Orleans
• Go to the top of the Empire State Building
• Climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty
• Ring in the New Year in Times Square
• Take a carriage ride in New York
• Swim with dolphins
• Take a ride in a hot air balloon
• Walk the Great Wall of China
  
• Visit the Amazon Rainforest
  
• Ride a gondola in Venice
• Ride on the Orient Express
  
• Drive cross country
• Go on an African safari

• Learn to play the guitar
• Sing a duet with Bob Cowsill (actually this one scares me but part of me really wants to!)
  
• See my children graduate from high school & college
• See my children married to men they love
• Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary (which means I'll still be around at 85!)
• Become a grandparent
• Own a convertible
• Learn to say "no"
• Meet a Beatle
• Learn to ski
• Get all my photo & negatives organized
• Quit biting my fingernails
• Lose weight and keep it off for good
• Read the classics
• Get a professional massage
• Own my dream house
• Own a successful business
• Meet all of my first cousins
• Spend a weekend at a fancy spa
• Raise a million dollars for St. Martins
• Rent a vacation home on the beach
• Stop being afraid of what others might think
• Discover what I am truly passionate about and pursue it
• Be happy (or at least content) with who I am

I'm sure there are many things missing on the list that I will accomplish in the next 50 years but it will be interesting to see how many of these I might do!