Scenes I hope pop up as my life flashes before my eyes. Numbers 1-25:

1. Hank banging a bowl with a spoon on the kitchen floor
2. Cutting the cake with Bryan
3. Hot dog in Reykjavik at midnight, full sun
4. Cracking open a book with my name on the cover
5. Dancing on the bar at the office party
6. Jumping off the high dive terrified
7. Cheering Kazakhstan at the Olympics
8. Writing the very last check on our credit card debt
9. Seeing van Gogh’s Starry Night
10. Starting the conga line
11. Helicopter over Buenos Aires
12. Skinny dipping at night in the ocean, in the lake, in the hotel pool
13. Dancing atop the boat in a thunderstorm in Costa Rica
14. Speaking at a conference for the first time
15. Swimming in the open water with sharks in Belize
16. Laughing as I pushed the baby out
17. Napping on the balcony in the Philippines, warm air on my skin
18. Joining the chorus of hundreds counting down to the year 2000
19. Smoking a Cuban cigar on the balcony
20. Making cotton candy
21. Waking in a houseboat to see the reflection of water on the ceiling
22. Addressing Valentines
23. Haggling with my girlfriend in the Balinese markets
24. Bryan in a giant corndog costume in the Castro
25. Seeing the balloons drop

Tell me about your flashback moments in the comments.

I’ve often thought how fun it would be to keep this list somewhere online and cross stuff off as the years go by. Here’s one through twenty-five.

1. Go dog sledding
2. Safari in Africa
3. Scuba dive
4. See the salmon run in Alaska
5. Ride a camel in the desert
6. Pyramids at sunset
7. Tango in a milonga
8. Cross the Canadian border
9. See Cuba
10. Have a croissant at a French cafe
11. Try escargot
12. Take a road trip across the U.S.
13. Watch the sunrise over the Agean
14. Whiskey at a pub in Ireland
15. Linguica in Portugal
16. Open a Swiss bank account
17. Stay in the ice hotel
18. Visit that church made entirely of bones
19. Make butterscotch from scratch
20. Go on a multi-day biking trip
21. Fund and finish my art project/store
22. Gather a few dozen people to blow bubbles from the Golden Gate Bridge
23. Attend the San Francisco Black and White Ball
24. Grow vegetables
25. Learn to roll in a kayak

Surprised at how many of these are travel-related so far. Post a few of yours in comments, if you feel the urge.