1. Apply to give a TED talk - I applied to give a local TED talk at the annual Rapid City TEDx event to be held in June. The event was cancelled due to Covid. I also applied to be a national TED fellow. My topic was "Get your shit together in ten easy steps (Just kidding. There are no easy steps. This shit is hard). Self doubt tells me there is no way my idea will be chosen. Only 20 people are picked nation wide. I am really ok with that. Next year I will apply again. Some day you will see me on the red circle being funny and witty and you will say "Well I'll be. Heather finally got her shit together.
2. Carl Jensen Project - I am wonderfully weird and wacky. A long time ago my kids were bugging me because I didn't have a boy friend. So I made one up. I picked a random name, Carl Jensen. Over the years this fictional boy friend has become part of the dialogue at our house. I even have several facebook friends named Carl Jensen (none of them are my boyfriend). One day I wondered out loud what it would be like to be named Carl Jensen. The teenagers and I were discussing what all the Carl Jensens in the world might be doing at any given moment. How different and alike were they just based on having the same name. This is where my love for letter writing and my weirdness collided and the Carl Jensen project was born. I picked as many Carl Jensens as I could find out of the white pages and I started writing them letters. I explained that I was not a stalker. Just a curious and interested person. I told about myself and asked if they were interest to write back. I received no responses. In fact one of the Carl Jensens that I wrote to turned out to already be my Facebook friend and he unfriended me. Big surprise. In this day and age there is no way to send a random stranger a letter and not sound like a weirdo. So I changed my letter to this
Dear Carl Jensen,
My name is Heather Tromp. I picked your name out of the white pages. I just wanted you to know that life can be wonderful and weird and I hope you squeeze every drop out of it. I am a single mom with 5 kids I live in South Dakota. I am almost 50 years old. I like writing people letter. I love reading. Especially about peoples lives and experiences. When I turned 49 years old I made a list of 50 things to do before I turn 50. One of the things on my list was the Carl Jensen Project. Write a letter to as many Carl Jensens as I could find. If you want to contact me feel free. If not I understand too. It's a weird and unpredictable world we live in But I hope you know that despite the current state of things there is still much joy to be found and so many adventures to be had. Take care.
So far I have still received zero responses. But stay tuned. You never know.
3. Welcome Bags - Foster care is near and dear to my heart. I set out to collect enough materials to fill 50 welcome bags for kids coming in to the foster care system who often have nothing but the clothes on their backs. Due to the very generous donations of four or five people I almost reached that goal. Blankets, socks and under wear, baby items. All kinds of things. They are sitting in my room locked and loaded and ready to go out to kids who need them. Thank you to those who answered the call. You will never know how far and wide your kindness reaches.
4. Home improvement- Oh Y'all! My home is improved. Holes have been patched, new toilets put in new flooring, painting, a new fence for Walter, new blinds and a whole lot more projects and improvements thanks to my friend Brian.
5.Lose 50 pounds in one year - Did I lose 50 pounds? No I did not. Am I still an awesome person? Yes I am! Y'all my entire adult life has been focused on my weight in some form or another. I have been fat and I have been skinny. And I have been all places in between. Having been skinny in the recent past I now feel an incredible pressure not to let everyone down who was so proud of me for losing weight after my gastric surgery. Don't get me wrong. I loved being skinny. Anyone would. My health was better. I felt better. But i was the same me. My 10 year old was having a conversation with me the other day. He was upset that I called myself fat. He said "You have a low self esteem. I don't like it when you call yourself fat. I have known three versions of you mom. Really over weight mom, really skinny mom, and the mom you are now. Medium mom. I love them all." Wise words for such a little boy. I have had some success earlier this year with the Bright Line Eating plan introduced to me by my good friend Rachel. I was losing weight but, more importantly, I felt really good. More energy, my mood was consistently good. I was on a good path. Then covid hit and i was home with the kids everyday. And I fell off the wagon. I have never quit recovered despite several good attempts. I am not going to stop trying because my sleep apnea improves as well as a host of other health benefits. But what I am going to stop doing is stop basing my worth on a number on a scale. Recently my kids insisted that I have my picture taken on the first day of school along with them. I looked at the picture, 50 pounds heavier then I want to be, and I thought "I don't hate that picture." This learning to be ok with my body in any state is not easy. But I'm doing the work. If you are mean to yourself because of a number on a scale stop it. Your worth has nothing to do with your weight.
6. Shave my head - Oh Y'all! I have been so back and forth on this. I have really wanted to do this for a while. I have read stories and been inspired by people who have done it and felt really free and were so happy they did it. Christopher and I downloaded a what would I look like bald app on my phone and laughed our butts off. He still tells me if I do it I will look like a thumb. In fact almost everyone I mention it too has the same reaction "Why would you do that? No! Don't do that!" So I haven't been brave enough to do it. But I have a hair appointment later today. Maybe? Maybe.
Update: I did it y'all. I shaved my head. It looks awful but it feels great. Most people won't understand but it feels liberating. One thing though. If you are going to shave your head you better have a thick skin. I have already received some hurtful comments. Just have to know this is what I wanted to do and it's my head.
7. Beach vacation - Covid ruined this. The kids and I picked out the perfect beach house. We planned all the details. We were so excited. We were going Florida for a week. The plane tickets were booked. The deposit was down on the house and then boom. No go. I waited for a while to get my refunds. Surely this will be over soon I told myself. It does give us something to look forward to next year.
8. Save money every month - No overdraft fees- I haven't saved nearly the amount of money that I wanted to. But I am pretty proud of myself. I have always struggled to manage money. But for a year now I have lived on a budget. I have spent and I have saved. But I have been mindful of how much there is and planned for how much is needed. This might seem elementary for someone my age but believe me its a big deal. Woot. I'm growing up.
9. Cards and letters - I have been writing cards and letters to all of the people that I care about. What a blessing it has been to pause at the end of each week and reflect on one special friend or family member and put pen to paper to let them know I was thinking about them. Wait a minute! You say. Where is my letter? If you have not received a letter yet there is one of two possibilities. Either I don't have your address or I have written you a letter and it is in a ziplock baggie in my work bag waiting for me to slap a stamp on it and send it into the wide world. Its coming I promise.
10. Train Walter - Oh Walter. You kooky dog. We love you so much. We took Walter to naughty dog school to see what we could see. We have had a lot of problems with our neighbor who is not fond of Walter barking at his young children. He even went so far as to scream at my children and call the police. Lets face it. Walter can be scary when he barks. But little does my neighbor know that Walter is huge baby and scared of his own shadow. Never the less. The dog trainer did not take it easy on us. He gave us a lot of tough jobs to do in order to keep Walter under control. We have implemented some of them others just did not work out. I think having a fence and a doggie door and just being older and wiser has really helped mellow him out. The dog man said we should stop thinking of Walter as a member of our family. "Heather, he is a dog. He's not your child. You have to get him under control here." While I agree that he needs to stop running everything in our house (and stop eating melatonin) He very much is a part of our family. We love him so.
11. Teeth - My teeth have long been neglected. Like most people I hate the dentist and I avoid what I don't like. But I decided that it is time to show some love to these old chompers. I have never had a cavity before so I was shocked to learn that in my old age I now have four. over the course of 6 months I had several dental appointments and deep cleanings and fillings. It wasn't too bad y'all. Stop putting off uncomfortable things. You can do this. Go to the dentist y'all.
12. Friend party - This was going to be so much fun. I had party game ideas. Fun food planned. I sent out the invitations and you all know the rest. Right smack dab in the first weeks of covid and I had to cancel it. This really hurt my heart. But one more thing that will have to wait until next year. Thank you for being a friend.
13. Take vitamins daily- I take a lot of vitamins y'all. My body needs them since I had gastric surgery. I have and iron deficiency and and a vitamin D deficiency. So those are a must. I have to take vitamin C with the iron for absorption. I take a few others. The one that was really a game changer for me was adding magnesium I felt that y'all. I have to say I have been very consistent about taking my vitamins everyday. I even set an alarm on my phone to remind me. Go me.
14. Fix legs- I have had vein disease and I was advised that the blood was not flowing properly in my legs and this could lead to blood clots and infection. Already my left leg was swollen twice the size of my right and I could not fit my fat leg into skinny legged jeans. I put it off for year because I didnt want to pay for it and I was scared. But I got it done. It was painful and expensive and it honestly didn't help as much as I thought it would. But it did help some. And some is better than none.
15. Blog - Maybe you noticed that in March I quit blogging every week. Part of this was because of Covid. I just hit a downward slump when everything seemed really dark and gloomy. Also in March my world fell apart. My child was struggling with things no child should struggle with and I was barley keeping my head above water. Thank God for friends who kept me a float. But I didn't totally give up on blogging I have been working on a different blog with a few behind the scenes stories. I haven't gone far with it but I am going to keep going.
16. Organize cabinets, drawers and closets- Whew. Y'all. Nothing is more frustrating then spending a lot of time organizing something only to have it go to hell a week after you finished. I feel like I have cleaned the garage and organized the closets and rearranged the kitchen 500 times. And everything is still a jumbled mess. It occurs to me that maintenance is the issues. I want an organized life. But I am not there yet. And with my crazy busy life I don't know if I will ever get there. I have always been messy and disorganized. Adding five equally messy and disorganized children to the mix makes it feel like a constant struggle. But i'ma keep trying.
17. Book- I was made to write a book. People tell me all of the time. You should write a book. Here are some potential titles. Get your shit together - for reasons mentioned above. 120 years - because I plan to live to be 120 years old. Red Flags - because I always ignore them. Serial motherhood - my adventures in foster care. Jubilee - A cornicle of my last year in my forties. I am always writing a book in my head. Time to take the next step. I've been writing and thinking. The problem with writing is that in order for it to be good you have to have a certain level of honesty and vulnerability. I am good with that. But it's hard to think about hurting other people with your vulnerability and honesty. Its also hard to lay yourself our there for the world to see. But I'm working on it.
18. Volksmarch - I did it y'all. I went up to the top of Cray Horse. I have done it before but I'm older and way more out of shape than I was then. But I pushed myself. And my kids saw me not give up. It was hard for me . But I was so proud of myself. As I was going up the last part I was really struggling. Stopping every few minutes for a breath. A lady passed me and she said "You are almost there! You can do it!" When I got to the top the same lady saw me and she bellowed "You made it! I am so proud of you!" It made me cry. My kids asked "Why did that stranger say that to you" I told them its always good to be an encourager and a cheerleader for people who are struggling. On the way down we passed some others who seemed to be struggling like I was. My kids were like "Mom! Yell encouragement at them." So I did. "You got this! You are almost there!" Seeing their eyes brighten made my day.
19. Buy a bike - She a beauty y'all. I named her Patrice. It's probably been 20 years since I have been on a bike. But it's something I have wanted for myself for a long time. What an exhilarating feeling rolling down the street with my children chasing behind yell "You can do it mom!" But i'm weak y'all. I have to get out and walk it up hills. I keep practicing and I'm getting better. Soon the South Dakota winter will be upon us and I'll have to put her away for the cold months. My plan is to keep exercising and beat those hills in the spring.
20. One pin a day - I amuse myself. I have the best funny internet stuff. And some serious ones too. And I have a bunch of stuff on Pintrest too. So my goal was to post one new thing everyday. I did really well for a while. But then I grew weary of myself and life got hard and I did not feel much like being funny or cleaver. Now I post sometimes. When something strikes my fancy. I think I'm ok with that.
21. Exercise 30 minutes a day - I did this. Sometimes. I tried different things. Treadmill, jumping rope. Then when I got my bike nightly bike rides. I have not been super consistent. Let me be honest. I'm lazy. But the times I have gotten off my butt, even when I haven't wanted to, have been really good. I'm going to keep on keeping on.
22. Print pictures - I have all of these pictures on Facebook and on my phone. Some of my very best memories as a child are of flipping through photo albums and looking at old pictures. I want this for my kids. So I had a Past Book made with a lot of pictures from Facebook. Maybe you are even in it. You don't know. Immortalized for ever in our family photo album.
23. Make over at a make up store - I thought that if I am going to be bald I better step up my make up game. I'm almost 50 and that kind of stuff still eludes me. So I made an appointment at the Ulta store and showed up there with my bff. Right away the woman was cranky because I wouldn't let her "clean up" my eye brows. No thank you. I was born with these brows and I am keeping them. She whined that the make over would look bad if I didn't let her at my brows. My friend tried to explain that I would never keep them up anyway so there was not point. The grouchy lady demanded "Why are you doing this anyway?" I told her I wanted to watch her and see what products and techniques she used and try to learn to do it myself. She seemed irritated by my laughter. I didn't care I laughed anyway and ooops lip stick zipped up my face. Later my good friend Christon had a Mary Kay make up party. She gave me a make over at her house and it was a million times better than grouchy lady's work. Have I started to wear make up every day. No. Before Covid I was making an effort to wear lipstick more often. But working from home put the kibosh on that. I did have fun at both makeovers and that is something.
24. Family photos - My family photographer and best friend in the world up and moved away from here. Far, far away. And I haven't gotten over it. So I haven't followed through with a decent family photo that includes my girl child.
25. Week-end getaway - I don't really like to spend time alone. So I decided to spend a week end by myself. Away from home. But every time I started to plan it I ended up thinking about who could come along. Then I stumbled upon a travel agency that plans a weekend trip for you. Its based on your interests and budget. But you dont find out where you are going until right before its time to leave for the trip. It's called pack up + go. I was so pumped. Then you guessed it. Covid. Stinking Covid. Lucky I was able to get my money back. Another thing in next year column.
26. Write down all food and money every day - I have been a documentation rock star. Early on I went to the Target and got myself a unicorn note book to keep all my lists and notes and journals. Every day I write down what I plan to eat. What I plan to spend. And what I weigh. This has been a God send for me. I haven't always followed what is written. A lot of times I have gone way off of the plan. But having a plan has been helpful. My note book is stuffed with recipes and little notes that I have written myself. And daily to do lists.
27. Read 50 books -
Magical thinking
Dead End Gene Pool
Girl Wash Your Face (Hated this book so much)
Complete idiots guide to simple living
Bad with Money (Just a bad book and not too helpful)
Leaving the Witness (About a woman leaving the Jehovah's Witness faith. This book touched me)
Normal sucks
The woman who could not forget (About a woman who remembers every day of her life)
A Piece of Cake (This book changed me, touched me, Made me cry, Every emotion)
The Sanctuary of Outcasts (Another favorite. Loved this book)
The official Bright Line Eating cook Book ( I read the whole thing)
Pale Faced Lie (Another Story about the power of Resilience)
Sex, Comedy, God (Blah, Blah, Blah Stupid)
The connected child
Grit (Packed with info about perseverance)
Worthy (I remember this being a good book. But I remember nothing else about it.)
The Kiss (This book disturbed me)
An Uncomplicated Life
Leaving Church (Meh)
Rock Needs Water
Hope's Boy ( Such an amazing story)
Half Life
The Less People know
Normal ( About the boy the movie Wonder was based on)
Taylor's Gift
Three Dog Life (Pretty Good)
Stray (This one hit me where I live)
Delayed life
My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace
28. Pay off all debt except the house - Negative ghost Rider. This did not happen. My old gall bladder had other ideas. But I'm still plugging away.
29. Free Garage Sale - Knock, knock, Who's there? Covid. No Garage Sale for you. I did find out that Youth and Family Services was having a free garage sale so I donated all of my items to them. I think that counts.
30. Facebook Match up - My idea was to match up friends on Facebook who had thigs in common. I matched up 32 people. Eventually I stopped because I realized that I didn't ask anyone if they wanted to be matched. Everyone that I matched was gracious. Some even really became friends. But I felt like a weirdo. So I quit.
31. Family Day Once a Month - This is something that just seemed to happen without much effort or planning. We have been to the lake, The wild life loop, the water park, Devil's Tower, The Polar Express, Road trips, The library. But our very favorite family outing was seeing the Harlem Globe Trotters at the Civic center. My kids had no idea what to expect and they loved every minute of it. They still talk about the players by name and recall the great time we had. What a night.
32. Increase retirement - Someday I will be old (Ha, ha someday). So the time has come for me to take this seriously. Well really the time came a while back and I ignored it. But now I'm serious. I made the call and filled out the papers and acted like a grown up. Boom.
33. Family Date Night - Oh my goodness. Y'all do this with your kids. I guarantee you will not regret it. I put 52 date night activities on popsicle sticks and picked one out on Friday nights. Who ever's turn it was was responsible for helping plan and mange date night. We have made some amazing memories. Some of the stand outs were our candle light dinner (so fancy), Dance Party night, Fourth of July night time walk, and Fort night.
34. Shoot a gun - Y'all never thought you would hear me say I'm going to shoot a gun. But this is the year of trying new things. I have only ever held a gun once. Absolutely never, ever fired a gun. So I signed up for a gun safety class at the Smoking Gun My teacher was an old guy. An NRA gun instructor. Just the kind of fellow I always steer clear of. But guess what? He was such a great teacher. Very through. But also patient. After an hour of class he took me down to the gun range and I shot a gun y'all. And it was pretty great. Turns out I'm a good shot, even if I have to shoot with my non dominant eye because I can't wink my left eye. My friend ,Christy ,told me shooting a gun was better than sex. I don't know about all that. But it was pretty great. I'm not going to turn into a gun nut or something. But I'm glad I tried something new. 
35. No TV except on Sundays- I'll admit that when I was sticking to this I got a lot more accomplished. But along came Covid and I was stuck in the house all day with the kids. I needed tv for my sanity. So I gave myself a pass on this one. Soon enough what was happening was that late night tv watching became a real shared experience with me and my teenaged boy. When the little kids were in bed we all three parked on the couch to watch our favorite shows that the littles couldn't watch. If I wasn't fast enough getting there or I got distracted crys of "Mom. Come on. We are waiting for you" called from the living room. This shared time is precious. So I'm happy to adapt my goal for the bigger picture.
36. Celebrate International Mud day - We were set to Get muddy and dirty on June 29th,international mud day. But my gallbladder had to come out so we delayed for a month. But what fun it was! We invited small people. We had a bobcat scoop full of dirt delivered. We set up our mud stations and made our mud desert. So much stinking fun you can hardly believe it.
37. Christmas in July - Turkey and dressing. Christmas songs, small gifts. The whole thing, except in July. You know what is special about this kind of Christmas? Because it's optional there is absolutely no pressure. No pressure to make it perfect of go bankrupt trying. Just time together and fun.
38. Lemonade Project - This is a dream that has been in my heart for years. To help families in the foster care system. I wanted so much for this to be the year that I get the ball rolling. But everything in it's own time. I have way too much heavy stuff on my plate at the moment and covid hasn't made it easy either. For now I keep this dream tucked away in my heart. But not forever. Maybe I have more to learn or more people to meet or stories to hear before its time. I won't give up.
39. Redecorate the house - I have had the same pictures and decorations forever. I love them. But I felt like a change, my plan was to visit some second hand stores and come up with a kitchy style all my own. Early in my home improvement days I took all of my pictures and decorations off of the walls and boxed them up. The walls stayed blank for months. At first the simplicity was refreshing. I never made it to the second hand stores. But after several months I got back out my old pictures. It was like meeting old friends. I hung them back up in different places and suddenly the house felt like home again.
40. Go to my primary care doctor - I am the person who takes care of everyone else and neglects myself. I make sure everyone has meds and gets to the doctor and the dentist and I pay little attention to what my body needs. So I paid a visit to my doctor and she made some referrals and did some blood work and made some recommendations. I'm doing ok. But it is good to kick the tires every once in a while.
41. Hire a Maid - Y'all maids are expensive. And I just cant justify paying for something I should be doing myself. So I hired myself. And I determined to teach my children to help out more. But boy, oh boy I suck. This house is still generally messy all the time. I get tired and distracted and discouraged. So I decided to stop yelling at myself about it. I'll do what I can when I can. I'll try to get the kids to help and hold them accountable. But I will also rest when I want and read a book with out feeling guilty. I'll worry more about the memories and less about making messes.
42. Have Melissa Paint Walter- My 2nd cousin, Melissa Vandiver is a wonderful artist. She makes incredible pet portraits and I have been a fan for a long time. I decided to ask her to paint a picture of Walter. I wanted to capture the essence of my crazy, lovable dog. When I talked to my sister Julie about it she said she wished she could do that for her good 'ol dog Sam. Julie is the kind of woman who always puts herself at the back of the line. She does for others and is so caring and compassionate. Her old hound dog Sam was near the end of his life. I remembered when she rescued him after he was hit by a car. I have sweet memories of him chasing my son around her yard. Me yelling "Stop running and he will stop chasing you!" My son yelling "I can't stop running! He's chasing me!" I remember the times Sam "agreed" to be dressed up for Halloween as Sherriff Sam. He didn't have many days left. So I contacted Melissa and asked her to change it up and paint Sam instead of Walter. Winter faded into spring and Sam's condition worsened. He had cancer and he wouldn't make it much longer. On the day Sam passed Melissa messaged that his painting was finished. Now my sister has a forever reminder of Sherriff Sam.
43. Moving on and Getting Over - Matters of the heart are never easy. My heart certainly is entangled in this situation. How do you let go of someone who you love when they are bad for you? How do you walk away when your heart wants to stay. If you know me you know. I have written goal sheets for each of the items on my 50x50 list. I use the back to keep track of my progress on each goal. The back of #43 reads like two different people in a fight with each other. Seven years of my life in this hide and seek catch me if you can game. But, finally, once and for all I have come to my senses. This bipolar non relationship is over. For my own sanity. There is an end to this. And it is now. You don't have to stop loving someone to recognize continuing a relationship with them is self harm. So now I choose myself.
44. Weekend trip with Sam - Sam is that friend. The friend that you don't see that often who doesn't return your phone calls but you can pick up just where you left off. She is that friend who is there when you need her. She brings food when you are sick. She listens to you vent about the same situation with out judgement. When my son tried to kill himself she sat with me at the hospital. She taught my other son to ride a bike. She that friend that will come right over when you say I want to shave my head. Our birthdays are in September so we planned to go to a murder mystery dinner theatre in Denver for a week end get away. Unfortunately Sam could not make it. So I turned to my equally amazing thick and thin friend Kendra. Kendra is 20 years younger than me. But she is wise beyond her years. She is that friend who will come over get your kids in line. She is that friend who always checks in to see how you are doing. I met her on St. Patrick's day 7 years ago and we became fast friends. So Kendra and I went to Denver for Dinner Detective. We stayed at a swanky hotel. This trip came at a time when my life was upside down. Kendra made me laugh and let me talk. I am so thankful for her and she solved the murder mystery! I have some amazing friends!
45. Fabulous Christmas - Christmas stresses me out. There is so much pressure and so much business. I usually end up being cranky most years I just can't enjoy it. I miss out on the joy. So this year I decided not to be that way. I decided to tune in to my children and the goodness all around me. It worked. Right up until Christmas Eve. I set limits on gifts. I invited friends over for fun. I made things with the kids. I spent time with them. Christmas Eve day we were set to leave for our annual trip on the Polar Express Train. This is something that we look forward to every year. Even the teen agers. We ride the train with Santa's Elves and Mrs. Clause and eat cookies and hot chocolate. Then we pick up Santa at the north pole and he gives each kid a bell. Five minutes to go time and I'm standing in the kitchen and I feel something drip on me. I look up and the light fixture is spilling water. I run upstairs to find that someone has stuffed the toilet with toilet paper and flushed and water is pouring out of the toilet. Ankle deep water in the bathroom. Water soaking up into the carpet. I quick turned off the water. Yelled for every single towel in the house. I cover the floor with all of the towels I own and said over and over "This will not ruin our day. This will not ruin our day." And we left. By what ever miracle we made it in time and we had the best time on the train. Everyone was in a jolly mood and this years Santa was awesome. Christmas morning arrived with all its splendor and gifts were open and everyone was in a feel good mood. Then little girl exclaimed my head really itches a lot. If you are a mom like me those words strike fear in your heart. I called her over and took a peek and sure enough...One by one I checked heads. Thankfully only the youngest two were affected. But all the stores were closed. And there was literally nothing I could do. So we enjoyed Christmas and we ate good food and sang songs and took pictures. And the next day we doubled down and thanked God for lice shampoo and stomped those suckers out.
46. Read my one year Bible every day- I have read the Bible all through a few times. once I read the entire Bible in one month. It was an incredible shared experience with my church. But this year I wanted to Read the Bible with new eyes. I have grown weary of religion. I want relationship. And I have been far from that for a really long time. I'm tired of what people say about God and I am not interested in a list of rules. I want real. So I went back to the source. Every day has a passage from the old testament, New testament, Psalms and Proverbs. Every morning I read at the kitchen table. One of the first things that happened was that my children saw me reading. They asked questions. They sometimes asked me to read out loud. They were part of the experience. 365 days later I have read thru the entire Bible. Can I be honest? I struggle to see the Jesus of the Bible in the people who claim to carry his name. I include myself in that number. He was so complex. And we limit ourselves to being so shallow. We don't reflect him well. I am going to continue my reading. I am going to keep seeking. I am tired of superficial. I want real.
47. Take one walk per week - Holy Mac. why is it so hard to take a walk? I took maybe 5 walks in 52 weeks. That is just sad. Every week I planned to take a walk. But when walk time came I found I would rather take a nap. Have I mentioned that I am pretty lazy. Of course I took the ultimate walk last week end at the Volksmarch. about 6 miles. Boy did my muscles scream at me. I really don't even know why I picked this goal. It seemed important. But I hate walks.
48. Buy a polaroid camera/ one random act of kindness per week. At first I had the idea to buy a polaroid and use it to document my journey. Then I discovered how much polaroid camera costs. Boy howdy. That idea when out the window. So then I decided to do a random act of kindness every week. Do something nice and don't tell anyone. It's a good feeling to be sneaky nice to people. A kind word, a small gift. Brightens the giver as well as the recipient. Soon you find yourself looking for ways to be kind and soon enough it becomes a way of life. Good stuff.
49. Take a picture of myself everyday - When I showed my mom my selfie album she said "you make some weird faces" mostly because I think she didn't know what else to say. I tried to take a picture even on days I didn't feel like it. They aren't meant to all be glamorous. They are meant to show the real everyday me. Follow the link below to see.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YZcoqmNJynFRHzbg9
50. 50th birthday party - I really wanted to do it big for old number 50. Rent a place. Have some music, invite a crap ton of people. it was going to be fun. Covid stole that from me. And it made me sad. So my friends Rachel and Kendra invited me to lunch at Chili's And then in walks my fiend Sue and next comes my friend Lorrie. They got me a John Mayer Cake! And Presents! But very best of all the five of us just sat and laughed and caught up and enjoyed each other's company. What an amazing way to start my 50's. I didn't even care that at the McDonalds drive thru they just started giving me the senior discount without even asking.
So that's it folks. A recap of my wild and crazy year. I've done a lot and said a lot. Something's are in the books and somethings I'll be working on for the rest of my life. This year had been full of heart break and disappointment. But it has also been full of adventure and growth and Grace. Here is to 50 more great years.
