1001 Days Done!

Today marks the last day of my goals.  I have truly enjoyed these past 1001 days.  When I started I had no idea that I was going to become a doctoral student.  That changed a lot.  I also didn't know we would have another child.  That gave much less free time.  When I think of what my life was like when I started to where I am now, a lot has changed!  I am happy for every change we have had!

I wanted this post to be a celebration of completing 101 goals, but 95 is going to have to do for now.  Ninety-five goals being done is a fantastic achievement in my book though!

Here are a few highlights from the past 1001 days:

• I have cooked a bunch of meals.  I even learned how to make a turkey!
• I can solve a Rubik's cube with very little effort.  From learning how to do the 3X3 cube, I can now solve a 2X2, 4X4 and a 5X5 cube.
• I read the Bible from cover to cover.
• I composed songs that Melissa and I sing to the girls almost every night.
• I made a video of the girl's first year that they adore and could watch over and over.  They give commentary to the video constantly.  They have it almost memorized.
• I donated almost a gallon of blood.
• I got into the habit of riding my bike to school.  Currently I am saving about $1.75 a day when I ride.  Not a bad savings over the course of a month considering I am also exercising.
• I have read a lot of books.  I am even in the habit of picking up books to read in my free time. I just finished the autobiography of Quincy Jones. Someone at school was talking about him and I had no idea who he was. They were shocked.  I went on the library's website and put the book on hold.  I picked it up that night and finished in a few weeks. That would have never happened before!
• I ran 4 marathons with my brother.
• On most days of the 1001, I considered myself in pretty good shape.
• I read thousands of books to my children.
• I revisited ACS
• I revisited Jusdon College/University
• I went on an unforgettable canoe trip from Waterford, WI to Aurora, IL.
• I bought a stock that has almost doubled since I purchased it!  Too bad I only bought 3 shares at $1.67 a piece!
• I made some really neat toys for my kids.
• I got to spend some great time with my grandma making fudge.
• I watched a bunch of long movies that won awards.

This list goes on.

I did have a plan to get my goals done in the 1001 days, but life got in the way.  Two weeks ago I was going to surprise Melissa with a date to go see Phantom of the Opera at West Aurora High School.  Sadly half the family was sick and we had to cancel.  It would have been a real stretch to go to this with how sick people were.  I still enjoy high school theatre and want to see a show some day.

We had planned to go to the White Sox game on Monday night, but our dog Sammy has been terribly sick for the past few days and Hannah has walking pneumonia.  Another canceled trip.  This was also supposed to be a surprise.  Maybe it was a blessing I didn't have to go to U.S. Cellular. 

Another canceled appointment was me working at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore shop that just opened up in Aurora.  I had scheduled to go there yesterday, but Sammy needed to go to the vet so I was not able to do that.  She still is not healthy.  Hopefully her appointment tomorrow afternoon will get her better.

As of Saturday, I had a plan to get the goals done. Baseball game on Monday and Habitat for Humanity on Tuesday.  I knew I wouldn't have a play that we could go to so I looked over everything and remembered I had run two marathons but didn't count them as wildcards because I counted them as races run in the year.  If all had gone right, I had planned to try to run a marathon tonight on the treadmill then go out to Dunkin Donuts to celebrate after.  That didn't happen.  I think the marathon on the treadmill would be pretty interesting though I am glad I didn't have to do it. 

Here is a look again at what wasn't done:
Run a 5K in under 20:30
Take Melissa on 2 surprise dates
Visit 2 new baseball parks
Volunteer a day at Habitat for Humanity
Go to a High School Play
Go out to celebrate completing 100 goals

Will these goals get done?  I really hope so.  They are all ones that I actually wanted to do.  That is why they didn't get the wildcard earlier.

Now that I am finished, I am going to take a little while off to finish my next list of goals.  I am at 70 written down.  The next list is going to have personal goals in it, but it will also include a lot of family oriented goals as well.  After doing this one time I realized that I was doing a lot of things on my own and leaving them out.

I enjoyed the past 1001 days and I look forward to doing this again!