My husband and I are not Valentine’s Day people. BUT, we are list people. Once every few years we write down a list of things we hope to accomplish together.
In 2004, we wrote a list after our first year of dating. To put this list in context, we were doing long distance. Chris lived in Halifax, and I lived in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. And before Chris moved to England for a year, we made our first list of adventures, experiences, goals and more we hoped to one day do together. Here are just a few items from that list:
• Go camping
• Go to the grocery store together
• Read the same book
Items on this list make me laugh so hard because we actually dreamt of doing mundane tasks like going to the grocery store together. Now when we are doing that chore for the millionth time, I try to remember this list.
Then in 2010, after many years of dating, traveling across the country to be with Chris and building a new life on the best coast, we moved in together. And of course this next phase in our relationship called for a new list, which included:
• Go to Italy
• Throw an official dinner party
• Hold a Chris Kelly solo-project CD in my hand
The items on this list don’t make me laugh quite as hard, but they do make me incredibly proud. We have managed to go to Italy, thrown countless successful grown-up dinner parties, and Chris debuted his solo project Chris Kelly: Company Man this year.
And now that it’s 2014 and we’ve taken that other big plunge (with these words exactly!), it’s time again to make another list. What we put on that list is a secret just for us, but I can tell you it will have some big ticket items. And I absolutely can’t wait to look back on the list and laugh, and perhaps cry, about the silly and beautiful life goals we have, and have not, accomplished.
So, happy List Day to my love, and to every other person and/or couple out there that may not be into Valentine’s Day, but does appreciate celebrating the wonderful things in life and love you manage to pull-off.
Photo credit: The Compost Cook
