I've been thinking for some weeks now that I need to talk about the journey in this next decade. The 60's. Not 1960. Me being 60. Funny, I've heard several times on tv the past couple of weeks that 'they' (whoever they are) are saying that 60 is the new 40. Well that's a relief! I loved my 40's!
I did struggle with being 60 at first. After discussing it with friends that are near my age, we decided it's a mental issue. The generation before us acted older at 60 than we do. I could probably muse for many pages about what all the contributing factors are, but clearly we live a different life style than our parents did. And when I was whining about being old, I was reminded I get to have a birthday. Oh yeah, there's that. I survived cancer, I get to live.
It's the first of May and as my first year in this journey comes to a close, I am reflecting on what I accomplished so far and what are my future plans.
I alluded to a couple items on my bucket list in my last post. One is swimming. The first opportunity I had to take swimming lessons was the summer after my 6th grade when we lived in Nashville, Illinois. It didn't go so well. My mother signed me up for beginner lessons and when I arrived at the community pool, all of the other students were 1st graders. I stood 2 heads above everyone. I was so embarrassed and refused to go back the second day.
So that summer and following summers spent in Nashville, my friends and I would go to the pool frequently. But they were such true friends! They could all swim, but they would stay in the shallow end with me the whole time we were in the pool.
I watch the Groupon posts and could not believe it when I saw one for private swimming lessons. I took 2 lessons a week for a month in an indoor pool at an apartment complex. The teacher was a college student who assured me that she could teach me to float. I wasn't convinced but I did learn that and more. It was very exhilarating! Now mind you, I'm not ready to be on a swim team, but I not afraid of the water. That's a major accomplishment.
Again, unpleasant and unnecessary facts would explain why I'm intimidated by the dance floor and dance lessons have been on my list for some time. When we were driving around Reno looking for something soon after we arrived, I saw a building with a large sign in the window that advertised dance lessons. But at that time Mark traveled all the time for his job and never knew in advance when he'd be home, so taking dance lessons together was not really an option. Mind you, Mark did need lessons. It came to him naturally and he'd been dancing for years. But I wasn't interested in learning with someone else.
Just a few days after I saw the Groupon for the swimming lessons, there was one for dance lessons! I couldn't believe it and of course, I bought it. It was for 2 private lessons and then you can attend as many classes as you'd like in a month. And I didn't have to pay for Mark to come, which was a relief.
I was pretty nervous on the way to the first lesson. It wasn't a huge room and there were a few other couples with a teacher on the floor at the same time. He taught us some basic steps, nothing complicated. I was relaxed by the time we finished. We scheduled the second lesson on a night when there was a class immediately afterwards and we could stay for it.
The second lesson was on a few more types of steps and we stayed for the group lesson, but it was not helpful. They tried to teach us steps that were quite involved, tried to learn them in 3 or 4 sets and then put them all together. Next we would do it with our partner, then the next person, the next and so on. I wasn't really comfortable with that, even though none of them were experts at it. We agreed we weren't interested in doing any more group lessons, but I was grateful for the experience.
A couple weeks after the last dance lesson, we went on our second Jordan Essentials cruise. We flew into LA and neither of us had ever been there before, but there was no time for any sight seeing. Ports of call were Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. We'd never been to Mexico, wouldn't really say it was on my list of places to go, but we had a blast. And I was on the dance floor with Mark on the cruise. It was pretty exciting!
My 60th year celebration started with a birthday party in Reno with all our children and grandchildren and some of our friends. When I went to Springfield, Missouri for Jordanvention in July, my sister threw a birthday party with my family that lives there and a few of my Jordan friends. Add to that swimming lessons, dancing lessons and a cruise to Mexico, it's been a year of celebrations.
The past Saturday we hosted our annual Derby Party (Kentucky Derby), our annual Hawaiian party with be in late July and in August we'll have Mark's 60th birthday party. So the celebrations will continue.
As far as bucket list items, I have a few that are extravagant - month long trip in Europe, take Mark to Australia.
When I was in study before we left Illinois, we were to write down a wish list. That was 11 years ago, I wasn't 50 yet, so I really didn't consider it a bucket list. Several of those have already been reached.
We've moved to Reno. I have a baby grand piano. We've been on a cruise. Now most of the items on my list are more about my business. And I've reached some of those goals. Some time ago, based on personal sales, recruiting and sales of my downline, I reached the title of Director. A little more than year ago, thanks to Jessica Maxwell making it to Director, I'm now a Diamond Director. My goals now are to help my team grow their teams which will increase their paychecks. Helping others reach their dreams really melts my butter.
I truly believe you need to have goals and dreams. If you don't, you'll not be challenged to step outside of your box and experience new and fascinating things. Shoot for the moon and if you miss and you will land on the stars!
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