Birthday letters (3): the best of intentions

Since you didn't ask, a few explanations, on this, a birthday. Heavy on the cryptic, but if someone ever said that we were supposed to be self-explanatory on our birthdays, he was shot before his message reached me.

One for each year:

  1. Go intercontinental.
  2. Stand on top of Great Wall. Turn to $traveling_companion and say, "Once upon a time, a random raging Mongol horde looked at this and said, 'Hmph. We'll just climb over it.'"
  3. Brush up my German.
  4. Finish off seeing all 50 states.
  5. Figure out why in the world I'd go to North Dakota.
  6. French Laundry. Dinner for one if necessary.
  7. Now that I finally have contact lenses again, go snorkeling.
  8. See St. Basil's in the snow.
  9. Finish the novel.
  10. Start the next one.
  11. Drive across Canada.
  12. Find some way of making the drink-and-snarkfest with Matthew a yearly event.
  13. Spend at least half of dragon*con in costume.
  14. Without embarrassment or shyness.
  15. Find out how billboards are put up.
  16. Learn to read music.
  17. Continue to avoid going on a cruise of any kind.
  18. Be a bit more forgiving of others. (Except when I'm talking to Matthew.)
  19. Stop getting quite so twitchy when other people in the same room crunch ice.
  20. Make the perfect mix CD.
  21. Know what to say to my sister the next time Jeff and I visit my family.
  22. Find out what the contents of a >$100 bottle of wine taste like.
  23. Occasionally buy a piece of clothing not because I'm replacing something similar that I just wore out, but because it was pretty and I liked it.
  24. Tone down the shyness a bit.
  25. Finish Quarto.
  26. Make fewer lists. Live more.
  27. [Open for suggestions. Tomorrow's another day.]

My life is not lived in solitude and silence, and it is those moments of loudness and laughter that make it special. You are too many to list, but, thankfully, not too many to love.

*heart*

—Amy

(P.S. Not to pimp my own archives, but the entry from this day in 2001, 'Remember this. You'll see it again', is worth a revisit.)

Comments

1) If you eat at the French Laundry without me or before I do then we are going to have a problem. 2) I'm already Intercontinental. I am everyday as a matter of fact :) 3) I'll have to do something about #22. Don't know anyone else that might appreciate like you. 4) #13 AMEN 5) #4 What's left? 6) #9 I do get to preread right? Other than that...excellent list. Mine is much the same. Hippo Birdie Two Ewe Hippo Birdie Two Ewe Hippo Birdie dear Amy Hippo Birdie Two Ewe You are the best kiddo...don't ever forget it.

What's left? Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin Not too many, really. I've hit most of the close ones.

Amy, you can do as I did and follow a hockey team around the country ... I ticked off five states off the list last yaer. :D Happy birthday, old woman. [MAN!] Uhhhh ...

You haven't done Florida & the Carolinas yet? They're fairly easy (and can be fun)! I HIGHLY recommend going to see The Mouse in the off-season (but don't take Jody)... I've got the same problem (#18)... #8 - St. Basil's in Moscow is awesome (especially in the snow). I went during January while in college... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

As if you don't have a reason to visit Hawaii. =) Happy birthday, whippersnapper.

oh yeah. I have future dreams of a scheme involving me, my spouse, a plane, and mysteriously ending up having dinner at your apartment, Brad. What good is having friends living in Hawaii if you don't go visit them? :)

Ummm....excuse me Danielle...why not take me to the mouse? I have been there a bunch of times and know my way around the parks QUITE well. What more can you ask from a tour guide. Hell...I even have access to a nifty condo in Orlando should the need arise. I am SURE that by now all the pictures of me have been removed from the ticket booths :)

Oh, you don't have an excuse to visit Minnesota, nope nope nope. (That and I'm 15 minutes away from Wisconsin.) Of course, the UP in the wintertime should be its own state.

The best oart of NC is the Wright Brothers' memorial at Kitty Hawk. Go hang-gliding. Don't wear a skirt. Better yet, just slide down the sand-dunes, they're huge.

Having been to da UP in January, I'd say yes. :)

I'm quite familiar with the Carolinas. Asheville is a great little town for sight-seeing, artist galleries and some of the best views of the Appalachin mountains. Beaufort, SC is a quaint harbor town with some incredible restaurants. There are many more small get-aways if you know where to look. Just don't judge the Carolina's based off of Charleston. Charleston is an entity unto itself, both good and bad.