Your life list, non-sportswriting version

Learned to scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef

Watched the sunrise from a balloon in the middle of the Outback

Took a helicopter ride at night over Tokyo

Spent three days with my wife on the Amalfi Coast

Skied in the Rocky Mountains

Have a family cottage where the swimming is heavenly

Have two great children and a beautiful wife - that should probably be first, but the list is no particular order

Saw Peter Gabriel sing Imagine at the Olympic opening ceremony in Torino

Am still great friends with my high school pals, all who have done well in their lives so when we get together, we look forward and not backward

 

This is what i'm thankful for in my life:

I've lived in some of the greatest cities this world has to offer (NY, SF, London...um, philly) and appreciated every second i was there
I got to know the desert southwest at a time in my life when i really needed it and often think that i would have thrown it all away had I not gone there when i did
I've seen many beautiful countries in my life and met some amazing people in each
I've saved someone's life and that person became a very close friend of mine
I married a great woman who not only makes me better sandwiches than i make for myself, but is just a couple months away from having our first child
Our unborn child is a boy.
I played a baseball game at the Vet when i was kid
Thanks to my obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles, I feel every possible human emotion in a 3 hour weekly span and make no apologies for it
I had a dog for over 15 years that was the best companion a kid could ever had
I conquored my fear of flying
I got to see Jerry Garcia multiple times before his magic was gone
I caught a foul ball at Camden Yards
My friendship with my 2 closest HS friends seems to get stronger every year
I have a brother just one year younger than me who has been my best friend for my entire life
I have a father who really is my role model and he's no millionaire and he's not athletic--just a kind, smart, worldly man who taught me how to be a good person

 

This thread makes me feel useless. :'(

 

My short list:

* Lost a no-hitter in a Little League game (thanks, offense)
* Have driven through all the states, except Hawaii and Maine
* Successfully navigated my way from a C-130 to the ground five times (without breaking my leg)
* Been propositioned by a woman with "three holes and two hands" (Long story ... but a good one)
* Seen dead Popes
* Toured Italy, Hondruas, El Salvador, Panama and a few places I can't discuss
* Shit on three continents, an island in the Med, and and island in the middle of the Indian Ocean in the same day (top that)
* Driven through a gaint redwood
* Held a small, wild shark in my hands
* Married an amazing woman who's decided to have children with me
* Drank quite possibly the worst beer in the world (Tiger)
* Been selected to become a MEDEVAC pilot for Uncle Sugar
* Met more cool, salt-of-the-earth people than anyone can possibly imagine

 

Hey, Eagle, you made me forget a good one:

* Caught a foul ball at the most beautiful ballpark in the world (Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City). It was the first foul ball caught in the second game of a doubleheader, so I also got a $100 gift certificate to a store.

 

Worse than Camo?

 

38 states.

 

I've had Tiger, they sell it in the liquor store near me. I like it, particualrly when it's really hot out. Can't be worse than Stroh's.

 

What a tremendous thread! Such great observations and deeds.

Mine are somewhat the same but the ones that stand out include:

_ Watched wicked men die.
_ Felt the sting of pure sunlight on my exposed skin above the Arctic Circle.
_ Flew from an ice storm in the Nordics to Jordan where a blizzard dusted the capital and the surrounding desert and then i turned into a giant sandstorm.
_ Married my best friend and so far we've had two great kids.
_ Been to 74 countries, only one of them illegally and never, surprisingly enough, to Canada. (I've had sex with my wife in 32 of them!)
_ Have had my life flash before my eyes as I stared down the barrel of an AK-47 and felt my heart beat like a jack hammer.

 

*walked the great wall of china (not the whole thing)
*climbed ayer's rock in australia
*fucked a girl in her sleeping bag under the wide open sky in the australian outback
*almost was run off the road by a herd of wild camels a few hours later
*bungee jumped
*walked up mt. fuji in time for sunrise
*graduated from law school
*married an amazing woman
*went on a honeymoon in italy with that woman; ate gelato, great food and drank awesome wine every day
*impregnated that amazing woman; baby arrives on thanksgiving
*owned two houses
*driven the length of the country (north to south) in eight days, stopping at a different minor league baseball game and bbq joint each night
*played college baseball
*went to the 1998 winter olympics (as a fan, not a sports writer)
*eaten kangaroo, crocodile, alligator, camel and emu
*went from the type of guy who ate cheez-its for dinner to a darn good cook without training, classes or help from anyone
*developed six-pack abs; maintained them for four years and counting
*been to more countries than u.s. states

 

Bump.
I love reading this stuff, so please, keep 'em coming.
Joe

 

Today might be the greatest day in my entire life. I knocked off TWO items on my life list: 1) I stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona (thanks to y'all on this thread for keeping this idea fresh in my head before my I-40 road trip); postcard to prove it. 2) I beat the little wooden checkers game ("Jump All But One")at Cracker Barrel for the very first time; picture to prove it. I will never top this. ;D