...made the list, now checking it twice...

        Way back at the beginning of March I posted here about planning for the year ahead.  And here we are, 5 months into it at the start of August.  Seems as good a time as any to check back in and see where we're at and....maybe more importantly...remind me of everything I forgot!

15 for 15:

1. Finish setting up his new business
2. Fill up the calender:
1. Zip-Lining
2. Hiking 
3. Camping (err...maybe in a cabin???)
4. Spontaneous road trip
5. Canoeing, or rafting, or tubing, or all three!
6. Work on that ice-skating!
7. Fishing or crabbing, or both
8. Use the library passes to check out new museums
9. Take the train to a new destination
10. See a Broadway show
11. Rock climbing
12. Roller coasters!
13. Water slides!
14. Biking
15. Take a class together
3. Let him teach me how to 3D design
4. Collaborate on some advocacy pieces, written and/or filmed
5. Switch out the nightly tv episode for a game at least twice a week
6. Take a walk together every day, no matter the weather. (Coats? Umbrellas? Flashlights?  Good to go!)
7. Cook dinner together once a week
8. Let him make breakfast once a week
9. Stay overnight at a hotel just to use the pool and order room service
10. Volunteer together
11. Build a piece of furniture together
12. Try geocaching
13. Try our hand (and eye co-ordination) at golf
14. Waste a day playing arcade games
15. Put him in charge for a week in the summer: have him pick the groceries, plan the meals, choose the activities!  Don't forget to be a good sport...even if he forgets that you NEED coffee!

         Ooof...well, there's the proof.  Not quite up to "goals" level, now is it.  Granted, we've kept busy with things not on this list but to see it all in front of me is a bit overwhelming.  Mom-guilt triggered, as I think back on days when we should have~could have~would have done more...

        But then again, there's so much more to it, isn't there?  So many little things not on this list that we've done and enjoyed.  So many moments not represented here that have filled up our days.

        I look at this list and see the big-ticket items...the trips and the amusements and the things that aren't free...and they are all still sitting there...un-done.  

        And I'll be honest.  That makes me nervous. 

        Anxious.

        Guilty.  

        It makes me feel like I'm failing at something...at motherhood.

        So I have to take a breath, and reassess, and remind myself of all the things we have done....all the small adventures and explorations, all the new discoveries and learning, all the experiences.  

        I have to value the things we've done more than the things yet to be done.

        In other words, I have to stop comparing my "done list" to my "to-do list" because...

"Comparison is the thief of joy"-Roosevelt

~Leanna