Guest Author - Cathy Brownfield
“One lifetime just isn’t going to be enough,” Ryn says. “I’m 53 years old, halfway through my life, and I still have so much left on my to-do-before-I-die list!”
Ryn grins when she speaks about this subject. “My baby brother was a New Year’s baby in 1961. He told me I’m not allowed to die until he hits his 100th birthday, Jan. 1, 2061. We’ll celebrate it together, and then we’ll die. If that doesn’t give someone incentive, what does? So, at age 53-1/2, I’m at the halfway point of my life.” (And if you notice, there is a story problem in this paragraph.)
On her mother’s side of the family, Ryn’s mother is 76, her grandmother died at age 84 and her great-grandmother died at age 86. On her father’s side of the family, her father is 80 and his older sister is 85. (There are three deceased sisters—two in childhood—and a brother who died at age 70 in 2006.) Ryn thinks she stands a pretty good chance of making it to 107-1/2.
Ryn and her husband raised four children. “Now it’s our turn. You know, when I wa raising those children I thought, ‘When they’re all grown up I’ll still be young enough to do my thing so it’s OK that the children need my full attention right now. But there was something I forgot to figure into the equation: our parents would be elderly, proving that waiting to chase my dreams probably wasn’t my smartest move ever. The clock doesn’t stop and wait,” she says. “Actually, I think I saw the light in time!”
Her top ten goals for her golden years:
1. Health.
2. Wisdom and knowledge.
3. Success in her chosen profession. (“I want to write 100 books before I die.)
4. Fantastic grandma.
5. Travel to all of the continents on the planet.
6. Travel to the moon, even Mars. “What a way to go out because what’s the chances of returning from Mars?”
7. Meet Barry Manilow (for myself) and Johnny Depp (for my daughter).
8. Love and be loved.
9. Do something that will make the world a better place with the thing, not me, being remembered.
10. Be a good example for others to follow.
“Oh, you want my busy list?” she asks.
1. Write 100 books before I die.
2. Learn to play guitar.
3. Learn to play piano.
4. Travel around the world.
5. Sing onstage with my favorite singers who sing in my key.
6. Travel around the United States in a motorhome.
7. Read 100 books a year.
8. Log cabin home in the sticks.
9. Sheltered swimming pool for laps every morning and evening for the rest of my life.
10. Send each of my children and their families on their dream vacation.
“I’m not dare devil enough to go bungee-jumping or sky-diving. But I might like to try scuba-diving,” Ryn says.
“My children are grown. I want to ride a camel in the desert, hear Big Ben chim in London, see the view from the Eiffel Tower, visit the wall in China, walk the streets in the Holy Land and see if I, too, can feel the spirits of generations of sojourners who have walked there for centuries before me.”
What’s on your top ten to-do-before-I-die list?
