I'm doing 32 things
It's not really about Elvis...
17 months ago
...so much as it is about the Paul Simon song “Graceland,” which is almost an anthem of mine. At this point it would be a kind of pilgrimage.
kristyn42's Life List
-
1. pet a giraffe
1 cheer54 people -
2. get involved in a church
6 people -
3. be more entertaining
2 people -
4. Clean off my desk
1 cheer33 people -
5. be more grateful
252 people -
6. visit my grandpa's grave
1 entry7 people -
7. Get a book published
1 cheer291 people -
8. pay off my car
546 people -
9. stop drinking caffeine
39 people -
10. stop biting my nails
7,038 people -
11. be a better correspondent
17 people -
12. be content
1 cheer627 people -
13. Go to the dentist
1,026 people -
14. get rid of my clutter
290 people -
15. become an Internet celebrity
1 cheer52 people -
16. exercise daily
1,966 people -
17. become vegan
291 people -
18. write a book
1 entry26,117 people -
19. learn to play the guitar
12,659 people -
20. be a better daughter
788 people -
21. be a better friend
1 entry5,992 people -
22. stay in love
1 entry481 people -
23. go to Hawaii
1,674 people -
24. pray daily
422 people -
25. own a condo
31 people -
26. donate my hair
1 entry248 people -
27. win NaNoWriMo
77 people -
28. go dancing
149 people -
29. have more fun
1,208 people -
30. write every day
876 people -
31. make a website
700 people -
32. go to Graceland
1 entry41 people
Recent entries
I decided to wing it.
18 months ago
The cemetery was big, but I figured I would just sort of end up at his grave, since that’s the way things usually work for me.
I knew the general direction to walk in not because of the funeral, but because I visited the gravesite with my grandpa when I was little. We took flowers to his wife, my grandma, who died in 1976. I didn’t think of it then, but now I think it must be difficult to make peace with knowing where your bones will rest, with visiting what’s left of your love.
A graveyard is the resting place of a lot of people. I knew I might not be able to find the grave, but there is a stone bench in the cemetery that bears my family’s name. I figured if I could just find that bench, that would be enough. My grandpa was so proud of it.
There were about twenty benches in the cemetery, but not one of them was ours. I started to wonder if I’d made all of it up. There wasn’t an office or anything—there was no centralized list of gravesites, no place where I could ask where I could find my grandpa. Not that I would have asked, anyway—some quests are better off without assistance.
Untitled
18 months ago
Lord knows I have enough of it.
I’m waiting, I think, until I’ve had enough of it. Until I’m like, “I’m done with this hair! This hair has got to go!”
Or until it’s long enough that it will still be long, even ten or twelve inches shorter.
