Forty in Three!

Tomorrow, I turn 37. I’m not sure where the years have gone or how I ended up with so much grey hair (which, I admit, I have recently coloured – but it had more to do with eradicating the Fruitopia orange colour it had turned) but there is no denying, that this chicky was hatched all those years ago.

I share my birthday with a few famous people… Harrison Ford, Julius Caesar, Patrick Stewart, Cheech Marin, and Canadian R&B Singer, Deborah Cox (same year even). Lots of famous people died this day too – including an inspirational and legendary photographer, Yousuf Karsh. In 1985, the world witnessed “Live Aid” – a globally broadcast concert/festival to aid starving nations in Africa and in 1942, three German U-boats shot and sunk merchant ships in (Gulf of) the St. Lawrence and in 1974, John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” was number one on the music charts.

Now, I’m not one of those people who subscribe to a life’s purpose or think that my life has a deep meaning. Ideally, of course, I’d like to be deep and important and change something on this Earth, but the reality of the situation is 99 percent of us just exist. We are no more destined to change anything other than our socks… But I thought it would be fun to make a list (even though I said I wouldn’t) of things to do before 40… Now I’ve Googled a few lists and they have things like:

Travel alone
Balance a check book
Ride a horse
Get married
Get divorced
Have a baby
Start a blog
Buy a car
Get your heart broken
Be scared witless and do it anyway

I also found another list that you added one point for each thing you’ve done – I got 27 (it was a list of 50). I’ve found that I’ve done a lot of the things people list (I had a misspent youth) and some of them don’t hold much interest for me (travelling to places like France or Italy or getting a tattoo).

So what should be on my list? What should be on anyone’s “List”?

The only things I believe should be on these lists are things that have meaning for you. We could all take a cookie cutter approach and check off the things that meant something to someone else, but I prefer the personalized approach. A list (like this) shouldn’t be a competition or entrance fee to an elusive club. We all have birthdays, we all get older. That is a given. The things we do with our life, well, that’s individual. What holds meaning for me may be meaningless to someone else. I think a list like this is meant more to be like a record keeper. A place to layout and establish goals.

What are my goals? I’m not entirely clear but I do know that my life’s endeavors are more important that what can be rattled off in an hour’s lunch break! I’m going to work on my list over the coming months and see what it is I hope to accomplish before I turn 40!

Happy birthday to me!