On turning 39

Tomorrow is my 39^th birthday. The kids keep reminding me of the fact that next year I’ll be old. My sister-in-law started a list of 40 new things to learn before she was 40 (or was it in her 40^th year?), which I thought was fun, so I’m going to copy.  But this might become a list of things to do when I’m old. 

And I’m going to cheat and start off with some of the new things I’ve done/learned since we’ve lived in Guam.

1. How to scuba dive. (Since I had so much the anxiety about accidental drowning, getting lost at sea, and losing my kids in the ocean, this is probably the hardest thing I’ve learned.) We did our first boat dive to a shipwreck site.  For the first ten minutes in the water, I had to chant to myself “Breathe in, breathe out, clear your ears. Breathe in, breathe out, clear your ears. Breathe in…” It’s so unnatural to breathe through a regulator. For a minute I forgot that bubbles are supposed to come out when you exhale and I was afraid my regulator was broken. But once we could see the wreck, I could stop remembering to breathe, and just enjoy. Swimming over and around a giant coral freighter on its side is pretty cool. An underwater ghost. The site is actually home to 2 wrecks, one from WWI and one from WWII (the freighter), but the WWI wreck is too deep for us beginners.  I even relaxed enough to join in the fun of passing a pincushion starfish around.  Sorry that we did not replace our stolen underwater camera before doing this.

2. Seeing a sea turtle, octopus, and clown fish (snorkeling)

3. Completing a triathlon (and winning my age group).

4. Hiking a waterfall

5. Jumping from a waterfall

6. Swimming in a cave

7. Growing orchids and bananas (they are growing; they just aren’t producing yet)

8. Learning to like coconut

9. Making chicken kelaguen

10. Picking mangoes

11. Learning to paddle board

12. Swimming to Cocos island

13. Going to yoga regularly

14. Riding the Manta (superscary waterslide! Makes you feel like a preteen! Wahoo!)
15. Learning to surf

Those are the things I’ve already done. I’m sure I’ll think of some more as the week goes on.  Some goals I thought of:
- Read 40 books in the next year

- Travel to Japan and Palau

- Learn some Japanese

- Run a marathon – I’m debating this one. I ran a marathon right after I graduated from college, and did pretty well: 3:13. But the training takes a long time, and I’ve recently recovered from a tendinitis issue in my hip.  Recovery takes a lot longer now that I’m older, but I still have a competitive streak. I’m not sure how much time I want to put into training. Ditto on doing an extreme triathlon like the Xterra, which a friend just did. I get a little rush of adrenalin just from the idea. I love these things, but the training time – and equipment costs – feels selfish. (Reminds me that I enjoyed this article at the Image blog, mostly because I love Chariots of Fire and the “God made me fast” quote.)

- Learn to play the ukelele

- Make lesson plans for my community college class instead of just notes (does this count or is this just a to do list item?)

 - Make a bucket list?

I’m going to have to get creative to come up with 40 things. Open to suggestions.