In my next 30 years

If you google "what is the life expectancy of a woman in the US you get an answer between 75-90. Recently (like, last week) I turned 35. Like most of us do I started to think about my life, what I've done, things I've accomplished, places I've been, my kids, etc. I realized that although my life hasn't been what most would consider "rewarding" that I've actually done quite a bit. For better, or worse, its been my life.

A good friend of mine has been posting her "bucket list" adventures on Facebook for a few years now, and I thought maybe "bucket list" isn't the right term to use, but I did want to start a To Do list of sorts...

So the semi-obvious ones usually are things such as sky diving, seeing the Eiffel Tower in person, scuba diving, and so on. I needed my list to be things that I wouldn't be able to find reasons not to do. I needed a "real life" list if you will. And so it started, the last week since my big day I've been jotting down (OK, texting to myself) all the things that I've come up with to add to my TO DO list. Some are fairly simplistic things like writing a letter to my daughter to give her on her wedding day, others are lifelong dreams. Thus began my journey to be what I wanted to be when I grew up. You see, many years ago my mother gave me this very simple tiny poster board that said "its never too late to be what you might have been" and every time I have gotten derailed, unwound, turned left when I needed to turn right, and ended up upside down in my life, that tiny cardboard saying has played over in my mind. Lord knows that I've taken A LOT of side paths to get to this life I have now, but always I've ended up facing the same road I wanted to travel oh so many years ago.

So, here goes, well, just about everything. On July 1, 2013, I, Kristal Dawn Slayton will be starting nursing school. It has been a long hard road, and the two years in front of me seem pretty daunting. I'm probably going to be a raging, tired, crazy bitch several times, but in the end I will be proud of myself, and I will be someone that my kids can be proud of. You see, the biggest To Do of them all, is to make my kids proud of me, and happy to say that I am their mommy. 

"The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one, single, step"