The List Revisited

It's still technically today. Phew. I still have time to fulfill my obligation of posting a follow-up about my BIG DREAMS post from yesterday.

Here are are the details of The List, if you're interested:

• Live in China: Check. We lived there for eight years! Longer than either of us were expecting when the dashingly handsome sidekick and I moved there in 2001.
• Travel through Europe (in a jeep preferably): Not check. Still on my list. My parents and siblings and I once travelled through Germany and Holland in a Joker Camper. That's what gave me the idea for this dream, because I would like to do it again in a car with more window options than the Joker provided. I would also like to make it to Italy. (By the way, how many kids can you fit in a jeep?)
• Ride on the Trans Siberian Railroad: Not check. Sigh. Would still love to do this, but at this point it seems like a lofty request.
• Visit Australia: Not check. Double sigh. The dashingly handsome sidekick and I will make it there someday, though, I have no doubt.
• Live on a beach in Southeast Asia for awhile: Not check. Hmm. How long is "awhile?" And would this be comfortable beach living, like in a little beach house with air conditioning and refrigerated beverages? If not, then I think I'm too old for this. I have been to Thailand a few times.... Does that count? Can you tell I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote this? Ahh, the romance of being young and frivolous.
• Adopt a baby girl from China: Check! It was actually nine months after I wrote this list (two months after we moved to China) that we brought home our sweet Olivia from the Tianjin orphanage. I wasn't exactly expecting to fulfil that dream so quickly. Although technically it took us six and a half years to legally adopt her.... So it was both a quick and a long process.
• Write and publish a novel: Not check. I've written three novels, though, so I'm working toward the goal. Not as easy to accomplish as I'm sure I thought it was when I flippantly wrote this down on The List. Ha! Not to mention that you don't really just sit down, write one novel, and get it published and achieve the goal. One thing I've learned is that writing books has to become a lifestyle if you're going to be successful at it.
• Learn to paint landscapes in water color: Not check. In fact, this is one of those that has fallen off the radar. I have a lot of other things to do. Maybe some day when I'm old in a nursing home I'll go for it, if I live that long.
• Live in a house with a big bathtub and a gas fireplace: Check! I'm checking this one, even though our bathtub is kind of a normal size. It's still a lot bigger than the one we had in China. You can actually lie down in this one. And there's a gas fireplace. Though we haven't used it yet because we're concerned about the baby burning herself. But, still, Check!
• Be a stay-at-home Mom: Definitely checked. That I am.
• Live in a place where I can take long walks through beautiful places: Check. Even though I don't think Prosser, WA was what I was envisioning when I wrote this dream (I used to be a chick who thought the only beautiful places in the world possessed tall evergreens, cascading waterfalls and rugged mountains), I have come to appreciate the beauty here. Maybe my contentment springs from living in China, which is a gorgeously diverse country, but the cities ... uh ... are not so attractive. (The food, though, makes up for it.)
• Teach a college writing seminar: Not check. Off the radar. I have to get published first. Or go back to get my master's. No immediate plans for the school thing.
• Become a gardener: Check. Though I don't know. I feel like I cheated a little bit checking this one off. I worked really hard to weed certain beds in my garden. I planted all the plants I ordered from the catalog. But lately I've been a slacker. We'll see if the gardener in me emerges or not. Half-check. At least I'm working toward the goal because I actually have a garden.
• Paint my bedroom a color other than white: Check! I finally did this for the first time when we moved into this house. My bedroom is a beautiful nearly-turquoise blue. Goes with my attempt at a colonial Caribbean theme.

Now I'd love to hear from you: What's a dream you remember having as a younger person that you definitely DON'T have now?