Sunday, April 18, 2010

My Accomplished Abers

I’m not really big on Internet fads. I never got around to doing the 25 Interesting Things About Myself on Facebook (mainly because I felt that a lot of people were putting up things to try to portray themselves as someone who they are not, and I don’t play that game) and I have never uploaded a photo to Facebook (despite the fact that I took a ton of great pictures of Cleveland from the Goodtime III with the intention of putting them on Facebook!). So, when a bunch of people started making the 101 Things in 1001 Days lists, I remained very skeptical and figured that these lists would, to paraphrase Shakespeare, be “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”, that nobody would do anything they put on these lists, and that instead everyone would make a laundry list of reasons why they couldn’t accomplish their goals.

Well, I am very proud to say that Sheila has done a great deal of the things on her list! In just two months, she has already completed 12% of the list! It has been truly amazing and enjoyable watching her ardently and intentionally complete these tasks. I have come home from school some days to find her hard at work on daunting projects such as cleaning our extremely messy closets or baking cookies for Sara, and I am always happy to see the proud smile on her face that comes from working hard and doing something new (and doing it well too!) Sheila has done activities such as cook an Irish meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and a Persian meal to celebrate Noruz (Persian New Year). She knocked out a few on our trip to Pittsburgh—we went outlet shopping (a first for Sheila!) and scored some great deals. Additionally, we toured the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, which was an incredible experience—never once did I think that breathtaking art could be made with urine!

The 12% figure is actually deceiving because it does not take into consideration the progress that Sheila has made on some of her other, longer-term goals. For example, one of her goals is to watch all 10 of the movies nominated for Best Picture this past year. We have seen 5 of them, and District 9 is ready and waiting to be watched soon. She also has the goal of visiting all 4 of Michael Symon’s Cleveland restaurants; we have been to 2 of them! Additionally, she has tried hard to make a week-long meal plan for us several times, but unexpected fun times (such as Paul and Luke having us over for dinner on Friday) keep shakin’ things up!

Many of her other goals, such as graduating from law school and passing the bar, will be accomplished within the next few months too. I’m sure we’ll make our annual trip to Niagara Falls sometime this fall as well, and who knows, maybe we’ll finally go to the scary haunted house up there! One of her goals is to attend a Cavs game (preferably in the Finals)—I’ll be happy when that goal is accomplished! I’m sure we’ll also go to an Indians game—they’ve been playing very well, so that goal might be accomplished sooner rather than later! We didn’t get to go to one last summer, which made me sad because it was the first season that I can remember in which I did not get to attend at least one game.

Anyhow, I am very proud of Sheila and all that she has accomplished. Ever since she made this list and begun embarking on new ventures, I have definitely seen a positive change in her personality and demeanor—she often has a glowing smile on her face and is enjoying life much more than she was earlier in the semester. Her experience with this has made me think seriously about making one of these lists; if I do, I hope that I can live up to her hard-working example and complete it!

1 comment:

  1. Awwww.

    I'm so glad the list is making her happy. She's been doing a better job of it than I have!

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