Things I'd like to do someday

As you may recall from past book reviews, I really enjoyed Iris Krasnow's Surrendering books. The final book is Surrendering to Yourself, and one of the things she talks about in this book is not losing sight of the things that you love to do, that you loved to do as a child or younger person, and to make room for those things in your life.

At the time when I read this I had a hard time coming up with what those things would be, but I've kept my radar up so that when an idea, memory, or urge came to me, I'd be mindful of it. So, tonite, I've got a list of things I'd like to do. Some of them I can do now, some I will be able to do later in life when I am at a different stage, and some I don't know if I'll ever do. Nevertheless, here they are:

-Play cards more. My husband and I got to know each other while playing cards at college. (gin rummy, mostly) My longstanding favorite card game is Dutch Blitz, though. I am a very competitive card player, but love to play with those who are tough to beat. Happily, I am going to be playing cards this Saturday night with a bunch of people from church.

-Play cello again. I played it starting in 3rd grade, for probably only 2 years, but every time I hear a soulful cello part in a song I wish I could play again. it's been on my wish list for awhile now, but I'm just not to that point yet where the kids wouldn't try to use it as a guitar, or climb all over me while I tried to play.

-Sing. I used to be in a singing group in high school. I don't have a great solo voice, but I have a good voice for small groups. I miss working out the kinks in a new song and hearing voices blending together in harmony, enunciation, breathing from the gut, holding a long note, and having the entire group end their T's all at once. :)

-Voice lessons. Like I said, my solo voice isn't that great. I think I've got good raw material, but need some guidance on making my voice do what I'd like it to so it doesn't wobble and weaken here and there.

-Dance. Not only do I like to dance and shock my husband's coworkers at wedding receptions, but I loved being in drama club as a kid and getting to do group choreography. I can still do parts of some dance routines that I recall. It would be fun to be in something like that again.

-Dance lessons. I've been wishing to take dance lessons with the hubby for many years now. We may not be too far off from getting to do this. I want to learn all the ballroom dances, but also want to learn swing and some salsa, and wouldn't mind learning to belly dance either. I've got the perfect hips for it! (Can you *imagine* my husband's reaction if I learn salsa and belly dancing? He will be in heaven, and wonder why he didn't see his way clear to get me those lessons years ago!)

-Sky diving. I actually wanted to do this back when I was in college, but the opportunity didn't present itself. Now that I've got 6 kids and a husband who need me, I don't know if I'd do such a dangerous thing. But it's fun to think of myself as someone who is even *interested* in sky diving.

-Learn to surf. I love all those surfing movies and documentaries. (not Gidget stuff. I mean Blue Crush and several other more recent surf docs that I got from Netlfix) I've probably watched 5 or so. I'm in awe of the whole thing, and think it looks completely cool. Now, how much of an uncool DORK I would look like trying to learn to surf, that is an entirely different issue that would work well if I also had a desire to display physical comedy for beachgoers! Seriously, though, if we ever rent a beach house for a week or something, I would get a board and try to learn. I would just make my husband promise to stay in the house so I wouldn't see him doubled over laughing at me. :) (actually, he probably wouldn't laugh, but I might feel very self-conscious)

-Learn to play the guitar. Maybe it's the Maria Von Trapp in me that wishes to play guitar with my gorgeous children gathered round as we sing pleasant songs together. (nope, I'm not even joking!) We already sing together quite a bit, so it's not that far fetched.

-Be more creative. I guess most of this list is creative stuff, isn't it? Still, I feel like there's a lot more creativity inside of me that I haven't let out. When my husband and I got married he was an art major and I guess I kind of deferred to his artistic pursuits. Now he hasn't been doing art for over 10 years and I think we both miss it. But, I think I need to explore what artistic talents I have. When I painted the first bathroom window I felt some creative surges that I didn't know I had. I guess it's not that the finished product was so great. It's more that I felt free enough to decide that I could take the risk in putting something creative like that out for others to see. It's a form of vulnerability, I guess, and that's a toughie for many of us. I can see that in many ways, as I'm getting older, it's easier to take those kinds of risks. But I still have a long way to go. It's funny to be that way about art because, you know, some people put a blob of paint on a canvas and call it art. How could I possibly go wrong? :)

I would like to do more of these kinds of things not only for myself (although that's a good enough reason right there), but also as an example to my children that we can keep learning and growing for a lifetime. As I've been neck-deep in kiddos, there hasn't been time for much of this kind of stuff, but things are leveling out now and so I think I'm wading into new waters.

That's enough of my wishes for tonite. What do you wish to do?