Bookworm

Life Goals

I recently spoke with a friend who talked about traveling, seeing various places he wanted to see before he dies. (He's young and in good health -- these are just life goals.)

I see people online posting lists of the 100 things they want to do -- everything from learn to play the guitar to skydive.  Maybe I'll make a list like that and add it to this post soon. 

But my life goals, the really important ones, are:

• To be a loving mother to my daughter
• To be a loving partner to my husband
• To be a loving sister, granddaughter, niece, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister-in-law, friend...
• To walk the walk of my religious beliefs
• To fill my life to the brim with the things that make me happy and fulfill me: creative pursuits like writing and photography, intellectual pursuits like reading and studying, and active pursuits that will keep me healthy and fit like walking and biking.

Know When to Disconnect

"In the roundtable discussion on "Consuming the New Media" that I took part in, Peter Beinart predicted that, in the future, the greatest luxury will be being disconnected from all the new technologies, freed to think new thoughts and come up with new ideas. So perhaps the most important idea to come out of this Ideas Festival, where everybody was walking around in-between sessions talking on cell phones or tapping away on BlackBerrys (or listening to iPods on hikes), was the thought that future bliss will be dependent on figuring out how to put the bloody things down.  After Beinart spoke, Charlie Firestone, the moderator of the "Consuming the New Media" panel, turned to the audience and asked Michael York, who had earlier given a presentation on Shakespeare, if the actor could think of any insights Shakespeare might be able to lend to the discussion. York, always ready, said yes and quoted Hamlet's final words: "The rest is silence." Leave it to the Bard to deliver the perfect topper." [The
Blog | Arianna Huffington]

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." [From text of Steve Jobs Commencement Address: Stanford Report; June 14, 2005]

R.I.P Dana Reeve & Reflections on Mortality

"Dana Reeve, an actress who became an advocate for the disabled after her husband Christopher Reeve became paralyzed, died on Monday night of lung cancer at the age of 44. . .  Ms. Reeve, who did not smoke, announced last August that she had lung cancer. . . An actress and singer who had appeared in shows like "Law and Order" and "All My Children," Ms. Reeve took on an increasingly prominent role after her husband's paralysis in a horse riding accident in 1996. Together, they created the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which . . . [raised] and [distributed] over $55 million in research grants, much of it aimed at speeding the development of stem-cell treatments. Ms. Reeve became the foundation's chairwoman after her husband's death in 2004. She was responsible for developing the foundation's Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center, and for a program that has distributed more than $8 million for projects that improve the daily lives of people with paralysis. . . When Ms. Reeve announced her cancer, she said that "now, more than ever, I feel Chris with me as I face this challenge. I look to him as the ultimate example of defying the odds with strength, courage and hope in the face of life's adversities." [NY Times]

All I can think of is her poor son, Will, who lost his Dad in 2004 and now his Mom at age 13.  At least he and his Mom would have had opportunities to discuss with whom he would live. 

The past week I've been struck by a few untimely deaths locally and nationally.  It is really making me stop and think.  If I knew I was only going to live to be 40 or 45, how would that change how I live my life now?  Sounds like a dark line of thinking, I know, but if it helps me focus on what's really important, it's worth it.  Also, my spouse and I need to get wills in place and specific instructions for our child if something should happen to both of us.  We may not want to think about the possibility, but we owe it to her to be responsible.