Boo-hoo, poo wittle me. We all have our days, I guess, but I find it particularly unbecoming of me when I wallow, or get stuck on feeling like I’ve made all the wrong choices, or cheated myself of some other life I was supposed to have had, as I did in my immediate previous post.
Because the truth is that my life, with all its ups and downs, multiple failures, and unconquerable corpulence, has been pretty fucking great. I’ve often speculated that the Almighty gave me multiple cool experiences when I was younger, because the aforementioned Source of All Things knew what was coming later in my life, when I’d need to buckle down and take care of both my husband and my daughter.
So I made a quick list over on my 27 Things page about a bunch of cool things I got to do before I was 35: I may change that back to 30, because in looking over the list, I think I did most of them by that age. I’m not saying that cool things stopped happening when I hit 30 or 35: just that I got to do what feels like more than my share of them before I was even fully an adult. I’ve had plenty of amazing experiences since, and expect to continue to have them. Sometimes all it takes is realizing that even the everyday stuff you do is actually quite breathtakingly marvelous.
I’m sure I could make two or three more lists adding up to 54 or 81 or more things I’ve done that were both wonderful and challenging, from driving between Chicago and Los Angeles five or six times by myself between the ages of 18 and 21, to walking two guys through performing the Heimlich maneuver on a very drunk, very large man who was choking on a sandwich on a CTA bus at about 1:30 in the morning (it worked–the chunk of sandwich came flying out).
Everyone has had amazing experiences of one kind or another, I believe. We all get to experience the extraordinary: that’s how the Creator, that vast, incomprehensible genius, set things up. Our job is to notice those extraordinary things and appreciate them, and to help each other out when we lose sight of just how magical and miraculous the smallest details of our lives can be.
So, tell me about your magic moments: what amazing things have you seen and done? What are the peak experiences of your life so far? Share in the comments below so we can all give each other some virtual high fives and way-to-go’s and damn-that’s-so-COOLs and remind ourselves that, with all life’s toil, travail, fear, and dread, great stuff still happens every day.
Eagerly anticipating your tales of extraordinary experiences and every day miracles, I remain,
Your bucking-up, getting-back-on-the-horse, snapping-out-of-it-while-also-anticipating-a-really-great-nap,
Ridiculouswoman
Let’s see…I had a few things celebratory things happen. There’s my son, of course – always proud of him. I was awarded a fellowship to teach in Germany for a semester. I bought my first new car without a cosigner. I repaired my kitchen ceiling that was falling down. Went to New Orleans and had a blast. Got on skis for the first time in 12 years this winter…and didn’t fall or get hurt! Joined a social club and made new friends. And maybe the best thing of all was I started all over again, after losing absolutely everything in my mid-fifties, and reinvented myself. It was hard, had lots of tears and doubts, but nevertheless I persevered.
Good for you! That’s a lot of accomplishment and resilience!