I just took my pencil and pad of paper and went out walking, and sat on the porch of the community center. I think it helps to find some time outside of time, in a place where the ordinary tug of events doesn’t pull at you. There’s a box in my closet full of the letters my friends wrote to me in old times. E-mail doesn’t hold a candle to that … those memories will always be there, waiting to be touched and held and lingered over, and there is a depth of experience in those words that takes much more time and space to express than most of us these days are willing to give.
Julia1190's Life List
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1. Write a detective novel
1 entry . 5 cheers6 people -
2. enroll in my company's 401(k) program
1 person -
3. get the HPV vaccine
2 cheers27 people -
4. get married
1 entry . 1 cheer18,599 people -
5. Practice the Franck "Sonata for Violin and Piano" every day until I master it
1 entry1 person -
6. start practicing singing again
1 person -
7. go on a date to a classy restaurant with a man who will pay for the meal
1 entry . 5 cheers1 person -
8. find a dependable international mutual fund and start investing in it on a monthly plan
1 cheer1 person -
9. buy a new wardrobe!
4 entries . 10 cheers110 people -
10. start taking voice lessons again--from a highly experienced teacher (not some grad student)
1 cheer1 person -
11. stop procrastinating
1 entry . 5 cheers26,955 people -
12. write a cover story for National Geographic
9 cheers1 person -
13. learn to speak Dutch
3 entries . 5 cheers99 people -
14. write a sonnet cycle
2 cheers1 person -
15. master the art of french cooking
1 entry . 6 cheers9 people -
16. pay off my student loans
2 cheers2,846 people -
17. throw out most of the paper I've kept over the years from school and life in general
10 cheers1 person -
18. sing a solo recital of art songs
5 cheers2 people -
19. take my mom to a murder mystery weekend at an inn
3 entries . 6 cheers1 person -
20. Write a Travel Book
4 cheers28 people -
21. Learn to speak French fluently
1 entry559 people -
22. write a picture book
1 entry . 1 cheer11 people -
23. sing a lead role in an opera
3 cheers4 people -
24. return to Florence, Italy
1 entry . 1 cheer1 person -
25. learn the constellations
1 entry . 3 cheers563 people -
26. to have one baby
1 entry . 1 cheer2 people -
27. write a book for young readers (ages 8 to 13)
1 cheer1 person -
28. Travel across Canada by train
1 entry . 6 cheers44 people -
29. improve my German
3 cheers484 people -
30. own a house
3 cheers2,033 people -
31. Learn to speak Japanese
1 entry790 people -
32. live in Vermont
3 cheers14 people -
33. grow pumpkins
1 entry . 6 cheers21 people -
34. revisit a German village where I once lived
1 entry . 4 cheers1 person -
35. Learn watercolor painting
4 cheers19 people -
36. see the northern lights
2 cheers16,903 people -
37. Visit China
1 cheer789 people -
38. spend a month at the MacDowell Colony
1 entry2 people -
39. stop letting my mother get to me and live my own life
10 cheers2 people -
40. be a classical radio announcer
2 cheers1 person -
41. be an international woman of mystery
1 entry . 3 cheers31 people
Okay, so it wasn’t the same gift or the same friend, but I sent a gift to a friend, so I feel I’ve done this at least once. And that friend was in greater need of comfort. It’s nice to send good cheer.
The best friend of one of my oldest friends asked me out—we’d talked a lot at my friend’s birthday party, and seemed to hit it off really well. And we had nearly everything in common. We went out Friday, and seemed to have a nice time, but he hasn’t called or written yet (it’s Monday night), though I e-mailed to thank him right away. Maybe it’s premature to feel like I’m getting the brushoff, but surely four days is enough time to get back to someone. At 35, I’m too old to feel this way, but oh, how hard this business is, especially when you haven’t done it much before.
