My Bucket List

In high school I wrote a bucket list of dreams, things I wanted to accomplish before I even hit 30. Well, I don't remember where that list went, so it's time to make a new bucket list, especially since The Daily Post prompt for January 3rd asks what the 11th item is on my bucket list. Life turned out a bit different than I imagined anyway.

My Bucket List

1. Get my driver's license. My test is in two days, so hopefully I'll be marking that off my list very soon.
2. Visit Dublin, Ireland. 
3. Visit Paris, France.
4. Write a novel during NaNoWriMo.
5. Visit Rome, Italy.
6. Adopt a child.
7. Write a second children's story (I already have the plot in mind.).
8. Go on a cruise.
9. Touch a tiger (a lion, leopard, cheetah, or other big cat will do).
10. Visit Greece.
11. Renew my wedding vows on our 10th anniversary.
12. Live long enough to meet my grandchildren and great grandchildren. 
13. Take my mom on vacation to a destination she's always wanted to visit. I'd take her on a cruise, but she refuses to stay on the boat once it starts moving.
14. Finish my scrapbooks I've already started. I think I have 5 or 6 just waiting for me in my dining room.
15. Learn how to crochet.
16. Learn how to knit.
17. Might as well learn how to sew.
18. Make a positive difference in someone's life.
19. Raise my children to be good people.
20. Teach God's love to my children.

It's actually harder than I thought to make a bucket list. I'm just writing these goals as they pop in my head. I think 20 goals is a good start. Obviously some of these goals are going to take a while. As I get older I'll probably have more to add to this list, so I'm going to write out my list and put it somewhere I can see to remind myself to make the effort to achieve these goals.

At the Stroke of Midnight

My sister-in-law shared an Ebook of 365 writing prompts on The Daily Post website that she found. The prompt for January 1st asks where we were when the clock struck midnight on the New Year and if that's where we wanted to be. 

- - - - - - - - - - - 

I sat in my rocking chair, rocking my son to sleep as he soothed at my breast. My husband walked into the nursery and stood in front of me staring at his watch.

"3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Happy New Year!" He whispered to me.

"Happy New Year," I whispered back, trying not to wake our son. My husband then reached down to cradle our son in his arms. The baby whimpered a little bit, but he settled down in the warmth of his daddy's arms. I watched as my husband put him in his crib and waited expectantly for the cries to start.

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . And the cries began. Our son would not sleep in his crib, hadn't for the last two weeks. The minute his body touched the crib, he'd wake up and wail until we picked him up again. Two weeks of struggling to get him to sleep in his crib had taken its toll on me. I was just exhausted.

I left the room to brush my teeth, letting my husband try to get our son to fall back asleep in his crib. I came back to get a New Year kiss. Then I settled into my bed, pulled the covers up, and played a game on my tablet for a few minutes before finally deciding to go to sleep. At that point, I didn't care if my son was still awake. I knew my husband could handle it. He would be awake for a few more hours anyway because of his work schedule. Within minutes I was fast asleep, so tired that I didn't even wake when my daughter crawled into my bed and cuddled with me at 2 am (so my husband told me later). Though I did wake up at 5 am to feed a hungry baby.

Copycat Baby

I am so excited to announce that my children's book Copycat Baby has been published on Amazon. You can find it here.

Copycat Baby is about a baby who acts like her pet cat. My daughter inspired me to write it. I originally wrote it as a poem over two years ago, which you can see here, but I decided to edit the poem and turn it into a children's book.