Wednesday, November 18, 2009

As the World Turns

I’m not sure if this soap opera is still running, but I saw the name in the passing every now and then, and thought I’d borrow it for this post.

Mr. Bob initiated the conversation titled “Is the world gonna end in 2012” the other day, and that prompted me to think. They say everyone needs to make a “bucket list” to set your priorities straight. And if the world is going to end in 2012, now will be a good time to start thinking about it.

My initial thought was: this is easy! I can give you a list of fifty things I want to do before the world stops turning, or goes up with a big kaboom.

As it turns out, I had to mull it over longer than I thought, and I could only come up with ten. If your time is limited, suddenly some of the things you want to do are not that important anymore. For example, I wanted to learn French. But what would be the point giving the situation?

Here’s my list of ten after some hard thinking:

1. Make sure people I love know I love them – I hope this one needs no explanation, and I probably don’t do it enough.

2. Go to dance once a week – I envy people with rhythm and coordination. Dancing seems to be so natural for them whenever there’s music. I’m too shy to do that, but will try to overcome it before the world ends. I have a karaoke machine at home, so I got the singing part covered.

3. Go to Italy – I always wanted to visit Italy. I know my half-Italian friend wants to go, too, but the hope is dwindling since her health and employment situation are both declining. I’ll see if I can come up with the budget to pay for both of us.

4. Laugh everyday –  crying everyday won't stop the inevitable, so I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.

5. Go back to the city where I was born – and see if I can reconnect with some old friends. Tell them I miss them, and that I dream of them often.

6. Find my lost half brother – two words: dysfunctional family. I tried it once to no avail. I hope he’s doing well.

7. Move my mom in to live with me now (I may be crazy by the time the world ends, so I won’t be too devastated)

8. See the world if I have money left – the earth is a wonderful place. See it before it goes away.

9. Thank God every morning I wake up – that means the world and me are both alive. I do that now, actually.

10. Eat all the chocolates I could – especially the dark ones. This one may change after two days, as I will no doubt be sick of it. When that happens I’ll change it to “Taste every cuisine available” Thankfully I live in a very diverse community, so I won’t be running out of options any time soon.

There’s no order for this list, but there’s really only one thing that’s important, and I’ll let you guess which one.

I did, however, have to struggle with “Forgive people who did you wrong” which is on most people's bucket lists. I did this for the most part, and the great reward was the inner peace and happiness. But there are a couple of people I just couldn’t look into their eyes and say, “I forgive you for what you did to me.” One of these people is my step-mother.

She is a hateful and crass woman. She did everything she could to alienate us from our father. Case in point: her lovely answer was often: “What do you want? To suck on his old nipples?” whenever we asked the simple question: “Where is dad?” She had a son after she married my father in a shotgun sort of wedding, but the elephant in the room was he was not my father’s son. We never said anything to our father.

She got her wish when both my sister and I were out of the house and living in dorms, and she always sent the maid home for vacation when my sister went home for summer breaks. Luckily I lived in a different city and often did not go home for breaks. She made sure we know that we were uninvited and unwelcome outsiders the day she set her foot in our door.

I will probably be dancing around the house and singing “Ding dong the witch is gone” the day she dies. So you see when it comes to forgiving her, I’m afraid I still have a long way to go.

What will be your list of ten things?
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18 comments:

  1. Wow, Sarah, that was honest and honest is always good and always brings good things back in return. I don't even know you but I sure do appreciate you and your writing.

    Ok, enough mush. You asked for my ten things so:

    1.Get skinny just once before I die. Bahahahahaha Like that's gonna happen!
    2.Write my book. May never be published but at least I will be able to hold it in my cold, dead hands and smile.
    3.Go to Europe and be European. No tourist stuff for me, thank you!
    4.Learn to play the piano for real this time.
    5. Learn to speak Italian for real this time. Ok, yes, there is a pattern of procrastination in my life.
    6.Finally get all the hundreds of photographs in storage into scrapbooks.
    7.Write each of my kids, grandkids, family and friends goodbye letters letting them know they were the most important person in my life. Hopefully they won't share stories later but I'll be gone so who cares.
    8.Give everything I own away so I can see the look on each recipients face before I go.
    9.Have one last make out session with my husband.
    10. Thank God for it all.

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  2. Wow, I'm sorry about your step-mother and I think the 'Ding dong, the witch is gone' song would be very appropriate when she dies haha. I wish you all the best and good luck in finding your lost half-brother. He's gotta be somewhere looking for you too!

    Making this list isn't that easy, I agree. But my No. 1 is the same as yours.

    I also want to go to Canada and Singapore one last time, and go on cruise ships with my family.

    And I want to meet one or two celebrities before I die. (in 2011, I'm actually hoping I'll be able to. I spoke about that in my last post. :P ) But they probably won't have time for fans, since it's the end of the world and everything.

    So that's three. I'll have to think about the rest. Great post as usual, Sarah!

    missykimmy.blogspot.com

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  3. marla - we are both on the boat of procrastination! i think your book is half way done with your blogging. :)

    kimmy - i plan to go to italy in the near future. good luck with your celebrity sighting!

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  4. OK, I confess. You were my inspiration. My list is over at mulledvine.com (as you know)! :)

    I'll let you know how I get on with #8 but don't hold your breath - its been a long standing issue.

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  5. mv - i'm glad i could stir some commotion in other's minds. i think about your #8 almost daily, so i know there won't be an easy answer.

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  6. Sarah.. I ditto Maria, WOW, that was honest! I was impressed with your honesty and laughed at the "ding dong the witch is gone" song.. I never had a step mom but had plenty of step dads growing up and can kinda relate (NOT a great experience at all!)you were a great inspiration, I will have to put together a list or at least a profile.. thank you for sharing with us!

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  7. Sarah, I didn't mean for you to take that thread serious, but you sure made a good post out of it, nad got "the wicked witch of the west out there too.How cool is that?
    Ok ten things now.
    1. buy a really good huntin dog, so I can hunt down food ( I already tell ever body I love em ever day)
    2.Learn to fly
    3. Buy a plane of my own
    4. Then when we lose the gravity thing, I can fly around till ever thing settles down.
    5. Learn curse words in ever landuage, so I can tell em to git outa my @#$*&*$@^ way when I'm flyin around.
    6. Git a really big cooler, for the beer gotta stock up for all that flyin.
    7. Sell all my stuff and travel around, maybe finally become a beach bum.
    8.Write a really blasphemous article about Miss "O", and git it plaster in the news
    9. Crash a party at some really important persons house.
    10. Tell congress the king is dead.
    yep that outta bout do it.
    \BIG HUGS

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  8. aion - thanks for stopping by. your site is really one of a kind. lol on your 'plenty step dads' and i can totally understand it. can't be a pleasant childhood. i will be waiting for your list. :)

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  9. bob - i should thank you for the inspiration. l love your list, and i believe you tell everybody you love them everyday. good for you. if i get all the stuff done i'm going to join you on the plane flight and the travel thing. that is, if you want company! i used to dream of flying a plane too.

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  10. hmmm we both have long lost half brothers. Mine was found about 10 years ago. He was put up for adoption before I was born but my two sisters and I always knew of him. I wish you luck with that.

    I do not believe you need to forgive that evil evil women. Ever. If anger eats you up, then you need to learn to deal with that but forgive her, no.

    Hi coco :)

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  11. mike - i lost contact with him after we grew up, via disfunctional family events...lol. but i'm happy for you that you found yours. i'm still working on your second point...

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  12. I don't know, Innocent. I heard once that not forgiving is like drinking poison and then waiting for the other person to die. It doesn't hurt them one bit but it will end up killing you. Just a thought from Miss Know It All. :-)

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  13. marla, great quote. i think i heard of something like that too. for some reason it's harder to forgive if it happened in your childhood. forget, yes. forgive, working on it.

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  14. I so agree about the childhood thing, Sarah. One thing that helped me a lot was realizing I didn't have to actually face the person to forgive them. I would never have done that. I just had to let it be a heart thing. I don't know that I can say it was easier but at least I could eventually do it, for my sake, not theirs.

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  15. Hey Sarah - I believe in karma and I believe what your horrible step mother did to you will come back and bite her on the arse. I'm off to make my list of 10 things - and I will include forgiveness too.

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  16. kitty moore - i like that karma, lol! thanks for stopping by. hope your list is a lot funner than mine.

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  17. ok Sarah.. just posted my "list/profile" on my blog for you.. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did writing it.. I left a link back to your blog :D

    Aion Masterson

    http://Iblogyourprofile.blogspot.com

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  18. aion - thanks for the link. nice trick to not make a list. life is simpler that way.

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