Tomorrow’s my 51st birthday, so as the final day of my 50th year, I thought I’d do a recap of some B-I-G goals I made for myself. I must admit, when I first made this list, I truly thought I’d do every single thing. After all, they’re all things I want to do, so it seemed simple.
Ha!
My 50th Bucket List
A lot has happened in the last year — good and bad — and I’m proud of myself for challenging myself to try so many new things!
Completed!
🟢 Complete a triathlon (4!)
🟢 Learn to ice skate
🟢 Ice skate backwards on one foot
🟢 Run a 5k race (2!)
🟢 Complete duathlon (2!)
🟢 Get a road bike
🟢 Try axe throwing
🟢 Mountain bike race (5!)
🟢 Join a club (Lakeshore Mountain Biking Sisters)
🟢 Volunteer in my community
🟢 Join a nonprofit board (Grand Haven Pride)
🟢 Become a mentor again
🟢 Get back into Spanish
🟢 Learn a little Italian
🟢 Watercolor paint
🟢 Try new-to-me book events
🟢 Start a writers happy hour
🟢 Take an editing course
🟢 Publish The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway
🟢 Finish It’s Always Been You
🟢 Get a literary agent
🟢 Bake snickerdoodles
🟢 Make homemade soup
🟢 Go on a Mediterranean cruise!
🟢 Pet a Clydesdale
🟢 Meet Governor Gretchen Whitmer
🟢 Attend a Planned Parenthood event
🟢 Attend a City Council meeting
🟢 Go charter fishing
Happening Soon!
⚪️ Go to Muskegon Art Museum (going this Thursday!)
I made an earnest attempt to do quite a few of these, and I truly do want to cross the rest of these off the list.
Not Yet
⚪️ Take a hot yoga class
⚪️ Take a barre class
⚪️ Skate skiing at pigeon creek
⚪️ Ice skating at Muskegon Luge
⚪️ Adventure race
⚪️ Learn to crochet
⚪️ Get CPR certified
⚪️ Jump off the pier
⚪️ Learn calligraphy
⚪️ Send 50 notes of gratitude
⚪️ Attend a writing retreat
⚪️ Write Chasing the Sky short story
⚪️ Bake cinnamon raisin bread
⚪️ Make chicken molé
⚪️ Make sushi
⚪️ Get another tattoo (got a piercing instead!)
⚪️ Go to a roller derby match
⚪️ Go to the ballet
⚪️ Mackinac Bridge Labor Day walk
⚪️ Go to a Lions game
50th Birthday Vision Board
I haven’t shared this before but not long before my 50th birthday, I gathered with friends to create vision boards for the following year. We cut pictures from magazines, choosing images that spoke to us and represented what we wanted for the year ahead.
I hadn’t done anything like this since I was a kid, and I have to admit, I didn’t put much stock in the idea. BUT, after that evening, the things on my board started happening. O.o
›› Top row from left to right: At the top of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy, at Fox & Hen Winery near home, promoting The Quiet Unraveling of Eve Ellaway on FOX17, selling books at the 3rd Coast Literary Festival at the Loutit Library in Grand Haven.
›› Middle row from left to right: On our Mediterranean cruise celebrating my 50th birthday, me with my 5-0 balloons, high-fiving Jeremy at the Skirts in the Dirt mountain bike race where I won my age group, winning second place in my age group at Lord of the Spring, at the local authors happy hour that I hosted.
›› Bottom row from left to right: Me on the giant branch that fell in our backyard, vineyard in Tuscany, the river through Florence, the purse Jeremy bought me for Christmas, the hydrangeas in front of our house.
What surprised me the most about this vision board is how naturally the random pictures I chose found their way into my life. Sure, a lot were on our AMAZING vacation, but the purse was totally random, I didn’t expect to do well at mountain bike races, and I certainly didn’t expect to ride a tree in my backyard!
What’s next?
After so much build-up for my fiftieth birthday, 51 definitely feels anti-climatic. And that’s okay. My birthday falls on a Tuesday this year, which is the day my mountain bike group rides, so I’m planning to ride with my friends then grab dinner afterwards. I care less about fanciness and more about making memories.
I’ve been wanting to get another tattoo but it keeps getting delayed, but last Friday I did get my nose pierced! My agent has my most recent manuscript, which we hope finds a home with an editor, and I’m 12,000 words into a new book.
And of course I have more bike races, protests, and fun with friends coming up!
