#1: Puddle Jumping

I was amazed at how many people submitted suggestions involving rain.  Standing in the rain, lying in the rain, running in the rain, standing barefoot in the grass in the rain, jumping puddles with nieces and nephews in the rain, etc.…rain was by far the most common theme among the submissions.  As such, it was the easiest most logical place to start.  Fortunately, it rained for several days on end the week after my birthday. 

To include my 6-year-old niece and 2-year-old nephew I needed daylight hours.  I work 1.5 hours away from them, which makes predicting the weather in their yard a bit tricky.  Naturally, when I left work in a rainstorm, by the time I reached their house the storm cell had passed.  I entered their house with the thought of waiting it out to rain again or simply re-scheduling, but my 6-year-old niece had other plans.

As soon as I entered the house, she ran up to me “Aunt Katie, are we really going to splash in the puddles?”  Re-scheduling was off the table.  My astute sister suited up her small children with galoshes and rain-appropriate gear. I went barefoot as requested and sans rain gear to feel the full effect. We splashed. We danced. We sang. We took turns kissing in the “rain.” We marveled at worms splayed across the sidewalk. We played follow-the-leader through the yard, which particularly tickled my nephew. 

By the end of our fun, my poor nephew being the closest to the ground was by far the wettest, and thus the coldest…but he was a good sport and didn’t complain.  I had high hopes of washing my niece’s hair in the rain, but the rain didn’t cooperate...so we will rain check that one. 

Again, I am amazed how many people made submissions about rain. It’s something that most of us encounter quite often in our geographic setting, yet we fail to take time to treasure the wonder, power, and majesty of something as simple and essential as rain.  I challenge you to stop and enjoy the rain in all of its glory the next time you find yourself in a downpour!

The Start

At the age of 28 11/12s years old, I am not quite where I thought I would be in life...which is not a complaint, but an observation.  I'm single. I recently moved back to my hometown without the promise of settling down anytime soon. I started a new job a few months ago that I love, but not in the profession I had originally imagined for myself.  I am still very much living the vagrant lifestyle of a young 20-something.  For now, I am content with that. Looking back on my life thus far, I would not change a single thing up until this point. 

 

Having said all of that, looking ahead makes me a little nervous.  As I turn 29, I can't help but look ahead to the next birthday. Thirty...a new decade which brings with it new expectations.  For all of my contentment now, I realize that if I continue in this exact place for long, I will soon find myself in a rut that will be hard to escape.

It is with these things in mind that an idea was formed and a journey began.  I reached out to several of my close friends and family members with this letter:

 

Friends,

At the end of this month, I will be turning 29 (HOW? I know, right?). Normally, I am perfectly fine to accept the passage of time, but, truthfully, the thought of the following birthday which will launch me into a new decade of life is giving me a little bit of trepidation. 
 

As I was mulling this over, I came across a great article about a woman who wasn't so excited about her 31st birthday. As she was running around the morning of her birthday, she slipped and fell on the rainy sidewalk in front of a Baskin Robbins and its "31 Flavors" sign.  At that moment, she realized life comes in many flavors - some good, some bad, but we have to embrace them all.

 

She decided to make her life a little more interesting by having her friends and family suggest 31 new life experiences for her to embrace over the following year. She writes, "As we get older we gravitate to what we are good at or have a passion for. I needed to step back to a time when I'd try anything. It was an opportunity to fall in love with something new that I would have never known about. And by accomplishing a goal someone else set for me, it was like taking on a piece of that person and understanding what was important to them." You can find her blog (and list of 31 flavors) here: http://thirtyoneflavs.blogspot.com/search/label/31

So I am appealing to you, my dearest friends and family, to help me open myself up to new life experiences over the next year. What experiences should I embrace before saying goodbye to my 20s? I'm hoping you come up with a variety of flavors: some hard, some easy, some fun, some silly, etc. Please help keep the next year interesting as I say goodbye to my 20s.

A few caveats: 1. Be careful what you wish for...you all still have to deal with me over the next year and I will likely rope some of you into accompanying me for some of these 30 adventures. 2. Just to add some suspense, I am not going to reveal the full list until my 30th birthday. Plus, revealing a completely checked-off checklist will bring so much joy to this type-A personality's heart that you all are basically giving me the greatest 30th birthday gift ever.

So here's my request: please come up with a few random/exciting/crazy/silly/fun/serious/tough/easy/poignant/funny/spiritual/physical/mental/
cheap/extravagant/enriching/daring/awesome experiences you think I should take on before turning 30. You can come up with as many or as few as you want. You have until April 28th to make your suggestions. Based on your responses, I will choose 30 experiences to look forward to over the next year.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

Love,

Katie

My friends and family met the challenge with greater enthusiasm, dedication, and sincerity than I could have hoped.  I was quickly overwhelmed with over 100 challenges from which to choose.  I gained a new-found respect for the magnitude of 30.  Thirty new experiences. Thirty new things on my calendar. Thirty things out of my budget.  Thirty things putting demands on my vacation time.  Coordinating the details became daunting. 
 

When compiling the list, I kept a few principles in mind: I chose at least one item from everyone who made submissions.  I didn't want to leave out anyone who invested time, thought, concern, and love in me.  Also, if two separate people made the same recommendation, then it pretty much had to be on the list (notable exceptions: visiting the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls...I wish I could, but I just don't have the vacation time this year.  As a consolation, they are now on the lifelong bucket list in thanks to everyone who submitted these!).

To date, I have a rough idea of the 30 things I am taking on, but I am leaving it open to some variability. I have already realized things are going to happen in the next year which are totally beyond my control. I have back-ups to the original 30 in case an item falls victim to life's happenstance.  If you think I am being soft by not having this etched in stone, let me tell you...you are dead wrong.  I am a planner at heart. I like things defined and under the perception of my control.  I don't do open-ended well, but I am learning to accept it for the sake of taking on new experiences.

 

My friends and family have reached out to me to join this journey; I want to meet all of their challenges and expectations.  I have already realized that in my attempts to satisfy the requirements of the 30-for-30 Challenge, I will be tempted to potentially rush through these items for the sake of crossing them off of the list.  Rushing through anything would completely defeat the purpose of this endeavor, so I have built in an accountability system.  I asked three of my friends to serve as My 30-for-30 Council; whenever a question arises as to what fulfills a requirement, I take it to The Council for advisement.  The Council will not let this journey be corrupted by my proclivity to rush, force, and bend the rules to get things done for the sake of getting them done.

And away we go...thank you to everyone who has contributed to this journey so far and who will in the days to come!