January 3: Writing Prompt #3-Kick It

What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?

     The 11^th item on my bucket list??? Well, I guess I better come up with the first 10 items, so I can figure out what the 11^th item is, so here goes:

Susannah’s Bucket List

1. Give something back to the world before I leave it.  

2. Visit and/or live in Germany and relearn the German language I have forgotten since college. 

3. Attend one professional sporting event for every major sport. (So far, I’ve covered hockey, baseball, and soccer…)

4. Go back to Bali and attend another Escape the World Yoga Retreat.

5. Become a yoga instructor for adults and children. 

6. Write and publish a devotional book. 

7. Visit every U.S. National Park I don’t make it to before retirement by motor home or third wheel. 

8. Scuba dive with Manta Rays on the Big Island of Hawaii.

9. Scuba Dive in the Galapagos.

10. Visit and/or live in Japan and learn a little Japanese while there.

11. Teach English as a Second Language to native peoples in foreign countries in my retirement years, seeing the world as I serve others in the process. 

Okay, so my 11^th item on my bucket list will help me fulfill some of my other items on my list, such as living in Germany and Japan, but it’s #11 because I am thinking I will have already, hopefully, accomplished many of my bucket list items before I get to #11. I’ve actually been quite lucky to have several items on my list that I’ve already “checked off,” so to speak, but just want to do again, such as visiting Japan, going to many of the US National Parks, teaching English as a Second Language in the Marshall Islands, going to Bali for a Yoga retreat, attending several professional sporting events…It’s really just about expanding on and completing these “bucket list” items, except for #1. That will be the biggest challenge because I don’t really know yet HOW I am going to accomplish this one…because I don’t know what it is. I don’t know HOW to best be of service to others in this world, but along with my New Year’s resolution to find a way to give back to my community through volunteering, I am hoping that it will become clear soon…maybe it will be through teaching yoga to kids or writing that devotional book, if I am ever able to check those off my list, but it’s okay if it’s something more behind the scenes too…I don’t feel the need to be recognized for it. I just want to know in my heart that I’ve done all I can to give back all the blessings God has given me in this life so far. What can you do to give back? What do you already do? Feel free to share…maybe it will help me with ideas for myself. J   

January 2: Writing Prompt #2-Resolved

Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution that you kept?

     The only New Year’s resolution that I can remember keeping is reading the Bible all the way through in a year. That happened in 2013.  In conjunction with that, I had hoped to write about my readings each day in 2013, but that part remains unkept.  Despite not having kept the writing part of my resolution, I am proud that I accomplished reading the Bible all the way through. I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again, but for 2015, I do have a couple of new goals in mind. For one, I would like to find a way to be of service to others in my new home state in 2015, whether that be volunteer tutoring at a Boys and Girls Club or being part of a organization that helps the less fortunate in our city, I am not sure yet, but it’s something I am going to start researching when I get back home.  I also want to join one of the weekly running clubs that I discovered within my first few months in WA, but have not gotten my butt out to join yet.  To go along with that, I have the usual goals of health and fitness, including eating better and better and exercising more and more consistently (thus the running club resolution).  And I think that’s enough…when it comes to New Year’s resolutions, I think the less, the better…makes it all more manageable if you are not overloading yourself with a bunch of changes all in the same year. 

What about you? Do you dare post your New Year’s resolutions here for all to see? It might make you more accountable for completing them…at least that’s my motivation! J 

January 1, 2015: Writing Prompt #1-Stroke of Midnight

     Where were you last night when 2014 turned into 2015? Is that where you’d wanted to be?

    Last night, my two boys and I were at a friend’s house in Alabama as 2014 turned into 2015.  Actually, the friend was originally one of my brother’s friends from high school. They have stayed close through college, marriage, etc…My brother and his wife always visit with her and her husband and children when they are in town from North Carolina.  Because they have two boys very close in age to my boys, we started visiting them with my brother a couple of years ago, and now I always make sure to text her when we’re in town.  They are a very gracious and fun-loving couple, always making room for us in their home and lives for the once or twice a year (at most) that we visit.  They even take the boys for fun outings with their family when they are visiting my parents during the summer. It’s funny how life turns out. Unfortunately, I do not pay visits to any of my friends from high school who still reside in my hometown. And yes, that’s my fault because I was so far away for so long, and I really didn’t do my part to keep in touch. Now, I attempt to keep up with my old friends through Facebook, but that’s about all. I never imagined the people I would come to treasure most would be my brother’s friends (and now mine too, of course).  As a young girl, I loved his friends, and when they would come over for his birthday or we were on church youth group trips all together, I always wanted to be around them.  My brother didn’t want me around (what teenager wants their little sister there-I am about 5 years younger, and when you are a child, that’s a huge difference), but his friends were always kind to me.  So, for New Year’s 2014, I would say there’s no place else I wanted to be than with a friend whose known me since I was a girl and has welcomed me right back into her grown up life as if I’d always been her friend right from the start. Thank you for your hospitality, Morris Family! You are a blessing!

Now, it’s your turn, blog readers, where were you on the last night of 2014 and was it where you wanted to be?  J

December 2014-The 365-Day Writing Challenge (well, maybe not ALL 365 days…’cuz we all know how often we really ARE able to keep our New Year’s resolutions completely!)

     How did you end up there? That’s the question a friend recently asked me about my move from a small tropical island in the Pacific Ocean to the NW United States. I’ve actually been answering that question for years concerning my initial life altering move from Alabama to the Marshall Islands (and the answer is not all that interesting), but I honestly didn’t expect to be asked that when moving back to my home country (btw, the answer is still not that interesting).  My family’s move from the atoll to the Evergreen state famous for its apples happened like most major life changes….quickly, which is why this blog has laid dormant for so long. I’ve been busy adjusting to life back in the “fast lane,” so to speak. 

     As part of this “new life,” I’ve wanted to get my blog back up and running again for the last few months, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to start. A blog title change was definitely in order, check! And a blog focus change is next.  The last time I blogged, I was writing my way through the Bible, devotional style.  So, to get my writing blood pumping again, I downloaded a 365 Days of Writing Prompts e-book (for free, I might add) from The Daily Post.  I will not start it until January 1, 2015, and I am not going to tie myself down into writing every day OR on every prompt because, let’s face it, I do have a life to live including a job to work, a husband to love, children to raise, and a hyperactive, rabbit chasing bird dog to walk (or more often run after) daily, and even though writing is important to me, my family is important too, and I don’t want to miss out on them because my nose is buried in this computer, writing to a prompt that I may or may not find I have adequate material or life experience to write about.

    That said, I will write about as many of the 365 prompts that I feel I can wind a sufficient rabbit trail down to interest you, and I’ll leave the rest of the blog entries to chance. So, I can’t be sure where the blog is going to go…all I know is that I must keep writing, whether or not anyone decides to read it. Why? Well, I used to say because it’s therapeutic for me, which is still true, but that’s not always the sole purpose….Mainly, it’s just because I need to share my life with others, to hear their feedback, to know that I am not alone in my thoughts, insights, frustrations, and mistakes.  Life is hard enough to comprehend and navigate successfully on your own, but with family and friends to help you write your life story, to include in your repertoire of memories….wow, that makes it all so much more interesting.  So, I hope you’ll join me in my newest blog challenge. You can find the e-book at the link above or follow me as I post the prompts I respond to throughout the year. OR if you are not into writing about the prompts, at least check in with me now and again and respond to my posts with your own thoughts, encouragement, insights, or stories. I’d love to hear from you!