58 years...

Today my grandparents celebrated their 58 anniversary. I think that's an incredible accomplishment. One I'm not likely to ever match - especially if I don't get married in the next few years.
My grandparents married in their very early 20's, in the year 1950, like a lot of couples did at that time. In 58 years, they have accumulated 3 kids, sons and daughter-in-law, 13 grandkids (several of whom have spouses) and 10 great-grandkids; they worked until they couldn't work any longer (though it was easier to get Grandma to retire than Pap Pap) and they now live in a basement apartment at my aunt's house outside Altoona, Pa. They have had their challenges, their ups and downs, but overall, they have been and continue to be very happily married.
I aspire to have what they have and have had for the last 58 years. Again, as I approach 30, I'm not sure 58 years will be feasible, especially seeing as I have no potentials currently. But it's not the years that I aspire to, it's the love; it's the way they cherish each other.
Pap Pap has been suffering from mild strokes and some other health problems since this time last year. The strokes have really been affecting his personality. I saw it for myself firsthand over the summer when I went up to visit for few days. He was very easily agitated by the great-grandkids noise and rambunctiousness and that hasn't ever bothered him before. He got angry and yelled at Grandma and it just broke her heart. My grandma still loves him with all of her heart, but she sees the man she loves slowly slipping from her. After he yelled at her that day, she just sat and cried, not out of anger, but out of fear of losing him and because it was something he never would have done before.
I want the good and the bad - the forever, however long God's forever is for me - I want my chance to experience the love my grandparents have for each other.


Pap Pap, Grandma, my cousin Blake w/ his son Mason, my Pop

100 Things...(I borrowed some of these because I want to do them too)

This is a list of things I would like to accomplish in my lifetime (my bucket list, if you will)...

1. get married
2. have/adopt kids
3. pay off my car (paid off 12-16-2008!!!!)
4. get out of debt
5. live debt free
6. go to New York City
7. go to Washington D.C.
8. go to all 50 states (I've made it to 25 so far)
9. take an Alaskan cruise
10. backpack through Europe
11. make a quilt just for me (finished 11-08)
12. finish my students handprint quilt (from 2004-05) - yes, I'm behind - finished it 7/14/08
13. finish the magic tree house quilt (from 2006-07)
14. buy a house
15. live in the country
16. have acreage
17. own a horse
18. finish all 7 BSF studies [Acts (04-05), Genesis (05-06), Romans (06-07), Matthew (07-08), the Life of Moses (08-09), John (09-10), Israel and the Minor Prophets (10-11)]
19. get my masters
20. work as an adoption counselor
21. dive the Great Barrier Reef
22. dive Roatan
23. lose weight ONGOING GOAL - AS OF 12/22/08 I'VE LOST 23 LBS AND 26 INCHES
24. get another tattoo
25. go to Brazil
26. go to Ireland
27. go to St. Petersburg, Russia
28. go back to Moscow
29. write a book and get it published
30. own a quilting frame
31. meet a celebrity
32. go to a Dallas Stars Hockey game (Emily and I went and saw them play the San Jose Sharks 12/29/08)
33. have a better relationship with my brother
34. ride the TRE from end to end (7/22/08)
35. go to Australia
36. go to New Zealand
37. have a backyard for Bella to play in
38. take a flower arranging class
39. go to the 6th floor museum (JFK) (visited 7/22/08 - very interesting - this is the location from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy
40. take a train ride cross country on Amtrak
41. eat lobster in Maine
42. read the bible all the way through
43. buy a Dyson vacuum (12/13/08)
44. fly in a helicopter
45. learn to snow ski
46. go to Disney World
47. go to Sea World
48. go white water rafting
49. go the Lone Star Park for horse races
50. do karaoke
51. go to Mackinac Island, MI
52. see Niagra Falls
53. go to Mexico
54. go to Canada
55. attend a taping of Oprah
56. go to Africa
57. go to Scandanavia
58. go to Spain
59. go to Austria
60. go to Italy
61. go on another cruise
62. have a star named after me
63. host a dinner party
64. learn to waltz
65. learn to salsa
66. learn to tango
67. stay in a bed and breakfast
68. see a broadway play
69. take a photography class
70. get an SLR film camera
71. swim with dolphins
72. go on a whale watching expedition
73. make a quilt and sell it
74. do sona med spa (or something like it) on my legs
75. do sona med spa on my armpits
76. make it to 500 volunteer hours at CMC (this put on hold...I have over 100 hours but because i got pneumonia in April/May and have been sick off and on over the summer - i temporarily resigned for my health and that of the sick children)
77. go to the drive in movies
78. see Emily get married
79. go to Texarkana to see Kim, Clay and Owen (7/28 - 30 /08)
80. live somewhere besides Texas
81. go to the San Diego Zoo
82. design and build my own home
83. learn to change my own oil
84. run a mile (I know its not far - but goals have to start out small)
85. plan a wedding (preferably my own)
86. ride horseback on the beach
87. spend a day at a spa
88. retire from teaching
89. rejoin a gym and use the membership (7/22/08 - I joined Curves - I like that I don't have to come up with my own workout plan)
90. ride the Texas Star at the State Fair
91. dive in Cozumel
92. go on another mission trip
93. go to the Amazon Rain Forest
94. go to South America
95. learn to knit
96. see Stonehenge
97. visit Alcatraz
98. go to the annual Tulip Festival in Iowa
99. go to Prince Edward Island
100. break out of my shell