My Wish List

I just finished reading Debbie Macomber's (Debbie is fast becoming one of my favuorite authors) book, Twenty Wishes in which four lonely widows decide to write down 20 wishes and then act on them.

I'm not a widow, but I have been wandering through a difficult time in my life:  unemployment and illness, both at the same time, both related to each other.  The current buzz word for being unemployed is being in transition.  I actually like the sound of that phrase as it does sound more positive. More like you're moving forward.  More like you have options.  I like that - although some times its hard to see the options.

So being in transition, if I could do anything at all.  Money no option.  What would I do?

Here is my wish list:

1. go to Alaska with Papa Bear - not a cruise but a land trip; not a packaged one either; taking time to linger and enjoy the beauty and wildness that is Alaska
2. canoe Lake Labarge (yes, dear friends there really is a Lake Labarge)
3. visit Vancouver - our original honeymoon destination
4. buy professional DSLR camera.
5. take photography classes 
6. write a book
7. get published
8. be read
9. take classes in writing
10. go to writing conferences
11. use my writing skills to tell others' stories:  everyone has a story to tell
12. become as proficient at knitting as I am at crocheting
13. bond with a good friend at a European style spa
14. conquer my fear of driving on bridges, causeways and interstates/expressways (depending on which country you happen to be reading this from)
15. do the CN tower with friends and family to cheer me on
16. learn to swim
17. go to Winterlude and ice skate on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa
18. conduct seminars on the affects of trauma and PTSD along with seminars on walking with, encouraging and supporting friends and family who are victims of trauma
19. become a motivational speaker
20. visit Newfoundland

And the list can go on ... and on ... and on....  The list being elastic as wishes are achieved and new opportunities present themselves.  As circumstances change.  As lessons are learned:  sometimes through tears.  Sometimes through laughter.  As relationships reinvent themselves.

Life is a challenge:  I accept.

If you were to compose a wish list.  What would you write?