30 by 30

I don't know when is the traditional time to make this list, but I'm starting it now. Here is my 30 by 30. Thirty goals/predictions that I hope too see come true by the time I turn 30.

1. Go to Italy. (This one will come true next month, thanks to my amazing husband.)

2. Learn to play Beethoven's "Pathetique" on the piano. At least one movement, anyway. (It's very long.)

3. Own a real piano.

4. Have another baby. Maybe a girl? If so, make and wear matching dresses.

5. Become an aunt.

6. Run in a race. Any race longer than a 5k. Preferably with enough foot and ankle strength to wear my barefoot shoes.

7. Write a book. Probably a children's book, and probably just for my own family, but it will be a real book.

8. Continue formal education of some sort. (Masters degree? Culinary school? Teaching cert.?)

9. Debussy's "Clair de Lune" -- commit it to memory on the piano so I can play it anytime anywhere.

10. Go to Brazil with Matt. Revisit his mission areas.

11. Read the whole Bible. I never had a fourth year of seminary, so I missed the New Testament. This will be a hard one.

12. Plant my own garden. Be able to make salsa only using ingredients I grew myself.

13. See a really good production of Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera.

14. Read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" for Matt. I've started it several times and lost interest, and I seriously think it might have hurt his feelings that I wouldn't finish a book he really loves.

15. Teach Josh and Jude to shoot/dribble a basketball.

16. Learn to shoot really good photographs. Become comfortable in manual mode.

17. Hold a recital for my piano students. Also get piano students. After I get a real piano. (See #3)

18. Get a dog for my boys.

19. Lasik surgery?

20. Learn to surf. On my feet, not my stomach.

21. Paint something amazing and hang it on my wall.

22. Second language -- this is very nonspecific, but I will make progress here, whether with Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, or sign language. I'm kind of serious about all of them.

23. Do a live session in the Salt Lake Temple.

24. Mow a lawn. Can you believe I have never done this before?? My husband is appalled.

25. Still be in touch with my BYU and Chicago BFFs (meaning calling/visiting more than twice a year).

26. Collect a supply of food storage in the basement, good to last a year.

27. Still be able to fit into the favorite pair of jeans I am wearing right now.

28. Read 20 more books from "The Greatest Books of All Time" top 100 list on thegreatestbooks.org.

29. Help someone find the Gospel.

30. Sponsor a student in need.

In making this list, I was surprised to find that I actually had a hard time thinking of thirty things. It's not that I don't have a million long-term goals or ambitions; it's more the feeling that so much of what would've been on this list five or ten years ago has already come true.

Back when I was fifteen, thinking about the future and wanting more than anything to get out of my small town, I could not have imagined how blessed my life would be, or how much of my mental "list" of dreams would've been accomplished so soon.

As far as I'm concerned, this list is just a bunch of extras -- things that would be fun to do or see or have someday. Go ahead and hate me for being cheesy, but I already have every happiness a person could need.