Things I've Done

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Oh, what have you done? Sunday I posted a list of what I've never done. I've managed to pair up every thing I haven't done to its equivalent of what I have done. And this is a true exercise in humility. Things listed here are taboo, shameful, but harshly honest with myself. And by doing these things I have built the person I am today.

I am pretty awesome, so I cannot deny my past. None of it. Even the bad parts.

I'm 45 and so far I have:

1. Had two miscarriages. they're hard to forget. So hard you actually never do forget them and regularly sit there and figure how old they would have been, only if... (17 and 19)
2. Forgiven everybody who has hurt me deeply.
3. Been to Africa (kind of), Australia (3 times), New Zealand, Europe (4 or 5 times? I should know this.)
4. Parachuted off a mountain in the South of France (way cool).
5. Been a total daddy's little girl, chose him when they got divorced and stoically stood by him when he quit smoking (he was a total monster) and supported him when he stopped drinking (much less of a monster, plus I was so proud of him).
6. Moved to an entire new location and started over professionally and personally from scratch more than 5 times, and counting.
7. Been around the world in beer with 2 friends and suffered sorely the next day.
8. Traveled alone to the South of France to work with a wine company during the harvesting season for 5 weeks. Then another time again for 2 weeks years later.
9. Told my mother I love her with every email, phone conversation, letter, card and of course every time I visited her.
10. Played: roller derby, Diplomacy and all the fairies in Sleeping Beauty (a play presented to 50+ grade schools in Alberta).
11. Been to every Northern territory in North America: Alaska, NorthWest Territory, Nunavut, and Labarador: I've even been on a dog sled ride in the midst of an ice blizzard in Nunavut!
12. Used my sense of humor to liven up boring banquets, even accepted an award at a racing banquet by speaking nothing but French, rapidly, and slipping every name of our sponsors, team mates and owner. Even if the names were English, nobody had a clue as to what I was saying! But people still talk about it, even if it was in 2004...
13. Controlled any urges to yell back - I most usually keep potential confrontations under control by keeping my mouth shut (of course it's shut, I don't know what to say!)
14. Peed my pants once, when I was drunk and giggly and nervous and un-experienced, or something like that (I was 14 years old).
15. Been to Greece where the letters are totally different, the language is absolutely foreign and you can't easily figure things out like other languages such as German or Spanish.
16. Loved my husband so much he has lost almost all his anger.
17. Driven an 18-wheeler a number of times for a total of 7 hours. It's scary. It's not fun.
18. Buried a father, a roommate and my niece's hamster.
19. Maintained a positive relationship with my ex's kids.
20. Donated to Goodwill a match of everything I bought (i.e. one new shirt means one used shirt donated.)

Thanks Mama Kat for providing me an opportunity to follow up, which I was planning on doing anyways!