100 Places to Visit Before You Die

I have always loved those lists. I read them and dream of the vacations we'll take someday when we have money, and more time. A friend did a checklist with the above title on facebook yesterday; she had been to 14 of the 100 places. I took the test and had been to 18 of the places on the list. When you take tests like that on facebook, they post your results. My friend Katherine responded to my results, saying "When I see these lists I think of my friend Beth. She used to point to the picture of her nine children and say 'these are the trips I didn't take.' I want my bucket list to have names on it."

What a great thought! I could easily come up with a list of 100 things I want to experience with my children, such as first smiles, first laughs, first times crawling, first times walking, first words, first days of school, first times reading, first times writing their names, soccer goals scored or blocked, pictures painted, ballet performances, hugs and kisses, first loves, graduations, driver's licenses, marriages, the birth of children, first jobs, first houses . . . I'm so blessed to get to be part of these experiences! Yes, it would be amazing to get to see the world, and I hope we get to someday, but if I have to pick between the two, I'd pick the second list, hands down :)