#almost30: Thirty Resolutions

Thirty things to do between my 30th and 40th birthdays:

1. Make it to 40 happy, loved, and in good health.
2. Fall in love.
3. Maintain vibrant social life and rollicking nature, always stepping up game and taking care not to get injured or arrested.
4. Read or re-read literature that I was too immature to appreciate, skimmed or avoided.
5. Continue evolution away from notion that success is the accumulation of things and titles when in actuality success lies among the intangibles.
6. Comport myself in a helpful, generous, courteous, and gentlemanly manner. Take time to show appreciation to others both verbally and in writing. Pause and temper reactions to negative events.
7. Make sure that my parents enjoy peace, comfort, and security and are always surrounded by love.
8. Inspire and practically assist my nieces and nephews in discovering for themselves happy, well-rounded, and fulfilled lives.
9. Tithe. Why not?
10. Maintain a vigorous and evolving fitness and diet regimen.
11. Extensively renovate and reside in my great-grandparents’ house in Charleston (aka the Pink Palace). Enjoy the breeze on its splendid porch and watch Rufus, my future dog, romp about the amazing back yard.
12. Open up a law practice. Call it Polkey Law. Be your lawyer.
13. Advocate more forcefully for the equal treatment of persons regardless of sexual orientation.
14. Help create a South Carolina where I can comfortably reside with my family in my beautiful hometown without fear of being unemployed and destitute, where my nieces and nephews are flourishing educationally, where bigotry dissolves, and where we provide no silly fodder for late night comedians.
15. Figure out if and how to teach and inspire interest among middle and high school students in civics, history, geography or similar. Does that mean I want to be a teacher? Not sure. More mentoring and tutoring? Maybe. So – yeah – figure that out.
16. Enjoy more live music.
17. I’ve never retreated to a mountain cabin. So, do that from time to time.
18. Realize all the great things that can be accomplished during the peace of 5:00 AM – 8:00 AM.
19. Meaningfully tackle one of our representative republic’s most glaring injustices: the lack of voting representation in the US Congress for the nearly 600,000 citizens of the District of Columbia, “Capital of the Free World.”
20. Make time to visit elderly family and friends, because a) it’s right, b) they’ve already been through all of what I’m going through, c) they were always there for me, and d) I know I’m going to want visitors when I’m old.
21. Requisite “get back to pleasure reading” resolution, which would be greatly aided by the Kindle a beloved friend or family member happens to gift me for my birthday.
22. Seriously consider enhancing my chess skills (as the new hobby referenced in # 23).
23. Get less worked up about politics. Find a more soothing hobby.
24. Accept a simple truth. Hangovers hurt.
25. Rescue a Standard Schnauzer. Name him Rufus. Occasionally call him “Boutros Boutros.” Prove that if I can take care of Rufus, I might be able to take better care of myself and others.
26. Leave these shores at least once annually, and for at least one week.
27. Quit talking about tennis and swimming. Actually do it.
28. Be as cool as Meg Kinnard Hinson about snail-mailing greeting cards with wonderful hand-written messages of love.
29. Step up shoe game.
30. Curtail sleep deprivation.