Everyone's doing this!

(I never believed it when my kids said this. I was right not to.)

However, this voluntary meme is going around, and I've caught the bug. The idea is to copy this list of 100 things to do, and highlight everything on it that you have done.

Here's my list; I've counted some partials, and not others, based on criteria I can't explain, even to myself.

1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world (1950s.)
8. Climbed a mountain (But not to the very top. Does that count?)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo (No. And the world is better for it.)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child (Foster parented, only.)
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train (Long, long ago. On those old trains that wailed their mournful songs along the valleys.)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked (Picked up hitchhikers. Up north, where we are all neighbours, whether we know each other or not.)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (And stockpiled snowballs, and absolutely wiped out my brothers' pitiful defense of their own fort. At least, as my memory tells it; their mileage may differ.)
25. Held a lamb (Not a lamb, but a baby goat, a kid. Same diff. Same heart tug.)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (Twice, once in the 1950s, once in the 1990s. What a difference! And not for the better.)
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (1950s, again. Unforgettable!)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (If MacD's counts as a "restaurant". Because that's where I was, and where the stranger was.)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business 
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (Or, at least, stood at the rail on a two-day and return ferry trip, watching whales.)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving (I wish. But I was chicken.)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt  (Very badly.)
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (Many times.)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Mario Moreno Cantinflas. And three Mexican Presidents, and too many actresses and beauty queens. But Cantinflas was the one who counted.)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Ridden an elephant

46/100. Not bad. But I still wish I'd gone in for the sky-diving.

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