The Benefits of Friends

No. Eight: Make baby quilts again

No. 51: Learn to knit or crochet

No. 22:Surprise a friend in another city for lunch

I have never been very goal oriented. An aptitude test done in college had the counselor declaring me a hedonist. If it was fun, I would do it. Otherwise, maybe not.  Possibly he wasn’t the greatest career counselor but also possibly he was onto something.  I like fun.

I’ve always said my oldest brother got all the ambition ( that would be the lawyer brother, Steve) and the other two of us were just happy to "go along to get along".

 Paul, Me, Steve. 

See? Steve is wearing the Chief's hat.  (O wait. So am I.)

And Paul - always the renegade.

So it is odd that I am writing a blog on setting some goals and accomplishing them. Maybe I am just getting my ambition late in life.

But in a chat with my dear friend Cherrilla, my roommate from school in Mexico, we were discussing  kids, goals and the concept of writing down your list.

 Cherrilla on our San Miguel trip last May.

The glass is half full? Or half empty?

Or just really good fresh squeezed OJ?

We both decided our young adult children could really benefit from a list.

She also had the fabulous idea of having some friends over for wine and snackies and having everyone write their own list of  Sixty by Sixty things they want to do. Or Fifteen by Fifty or Nine by Ninety or you get the idea. And then sharing lists.

The other thing she said was “I can help you with Numbers 8 and 51.” 

She’s a quilter, she makes and sells magical baby quilts. (She also makes and sells this magical stuff.) I used to be a quilter; she could get me motivated again.  

Some of our quilts- her two on the left, my three on the right and foreground.

We do like ourselves a little color.

I have knitting needles and crochet hooks and have in my past at least learned the very basic rules of knitting. You cast on, knit two, purl one or something along those lines. She crochets. She said she would teach me. Number 51 could be history.

 Aren't these beauties? Definitely a story behind this set.

(The minor detail that she lives on the East Coast and I live in Texas will not be a problem. Maybe I will have to surprise her for lunch. Number 22.)

Then she mentioned a friend that speaks to the elderly where she lives and how it might be something for those in the Senior Center. Which got me to thinking: In your eighties or nineties, do you quit making goals or plans? Once getting around seems insurmountable, do you just stop trying?  

But what if you make your list and share it? 

And someone says “I can help you with that.”

So the surprise bonus to putting myself out here and declaring that there are things I want to do and learn is that people have responded.  People want to help or share their list or at least get in on the fun. 

“I can help you with that.” 

"This is what is on my list."

“Do you want to come with me to this?”  

“Put that on your list! I want to learn that, too. Let’s do it together.”

 I had no idea that this list would be a way to connect.

And that is so much fun. And I love fun.

What is on your list?