Life Lists and Lessons

Earlier this week, Norm was going through a stash of saved birthday and anniversary cards, and he came across a list of Life Goals I had made on Sept. 6, 1975. Back in those days, it was common for a workshop leader to tell you to write down your goals if you wanted to accomplish them. So on or about Labor Day of that year, while I was working part-time at a newspaper and still homesick for the Ozarks and the Rocky Mountains after moving to the Big City, I made a list of 44 items in green ink on a blank church bulletin.

Of course, I lost track of the list and hadn't seen it in at least a decade, but a month or so ago I had wondered about it. Maybe that thought is what helped bring it to the surface. Anyway, I had a good laugh at some of the items, and felt nostalgia for some others. If I had worked at the list and accomplished one a year, I could look forward to total victory sometime in the year 2019, or around my 76th birthday! But the truth is, some of these goals have long been out of reach, and others have been supplanted by different dreams. Here is the list, with those that I did accomplish marked with an asterisk:
1. Climb to the top of Gray's Peak, Colo. (I got to within 1300 feet of the summit in 1972 and wanted to go back and finish the job. Alas, not.)
2. Camp in the Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming.
3. Visit Alaska and Hawaii.
4. Visit all 48 contiguous states. (So far I've made it to 25.)
5. Drive a truck.
6. Publish a book.
*7. Float on the Current River and the Buffalo River.
8. Publish a newspaper
9. Ride cross-country on a bicycle.
10. Have two children.
11. Live on a farm of 10 acres or more.
12. Go up in a hot air balloon.
13. Visit Yellowstone, Sequoia, and Grand Canyon national parks. (I went to the Grand Canyon with my parents in 1960, but wanted to go again and to the North rim this time.)
14. Ride the Delta Queen to New Orleans. (After taking the Huck Finn to the JB Bridge, I think that's as far as I'll go.)
15. Hike the Appalachian Trail. (Will maybe a mile, if I can manage it, count?)
16, Go on a cross-country ski trip.
*****17. Make a quilt. (At last, something!)
18. Refinish an old piece of furniture.
19. Have a craft or yarn shop.
20. Visit Mexico.
*21 Visit Ireland.(I was there in 1967. But I want to go again.)
23. Lead a Girl Scout Troop.
23. Own or manage a camp.
24. Become a campcraft instructor.
25. Qualify for Red Cross First Aid or Lifesaving. (Got the first aid, also CPR. No water stuff.)
26. Get a first class radio license.
27. Operate a ham radio.
28. Learn how to tune up a car. (Kind of obsolete now. I did manage to gap some spark plugs.)
29. Read all the works of William Faulkner.
30. Raise Christmas trees.(On that 10-acre farm, no doubt.)
31. Study herb lore and raise a herb garden. (Do pots of mint and lavender and basil count?)
32. Build a greenhouse.
33. Build a tree house.
34. Trim a tree.
35. Raise all my own fruits and vegetables.
36. Become a vegetarian.
37. Go on a round trip to the moon. (Remember, the first moon landing was only 6 years earlier.)
38. Write a novel.
39. Win a literary prize.
40. Visit an Indian reservation.
41. Visit the birthplaces of my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. (So far, the parents.)
42. Get a copyright or a patent.
43. Build a log cabin.
44. Ride a train through Glenwood Canyon, Colo.

Wow. What ambition. I'm amazed that I once had such athletic inclinations. A lot of these ran to outdoor activities, or gardening, or self-sufficiency, which was a big theme in the 1970s. As you can see, there aren't many asterisks. But I did set other goals and accomplish some of them. That is a story for another day. The photos here are from the campus of my alma mater, the University of Arkansas. Near the old Student Union, a bald cypress that was there in the 1960s during my student days still broods over the sidewalk, and it now has a plaque at its base, for special recognition of its longevity. If trees could only talk, the tales it could tell! And the Arkansas tradition of Senior Walk continues, with the name of each graduate etched in concrete. I'm there twice; below is my name from 1966 when I got my master's degree. It's not yet an epitaph; there's more to go.