Some people like to list what they've done within the past year on the cusp of turning another year older. I am not interested in listing such futile adventures. As I am within 24 hours of turning 48 years old, I'd like to list what I didn't do during the past year.
1) Still haven't watched It's A Wonderful Life: Almost a decade ago I declared that I'd never seen the feel-good, gratitude gushing Christmas movie It's A Wonderful Life. Despite receiving a DVD of the film as a gift 5 years ago, I still haven't watched it. I didn't do it when I was 47 and I don't foresee myself watching when I'm 48, but we'll see.
2) Haven't seen the Great Wall of China: This is one of those bucket list adventures. I didn't have a chance to travel to China when I was 47, so we'll see what happens when I'm 48. Who knows? Maybe I'll win the lottery.
3) Didn't win the lottery: There were several multi-million and at least one billion-dollar (if I'm remembering correctly, which at my age is questionable) lottery winning totals this year. I only buy a three line, quick pick ticket if the jackpot reaches the one hundred million dollar mark because, really, I pay enough money to the state of Wisconsin and it only seems fair that if I contribute money voluntarily, it should be significantly worth my wild to do so.
4) Haven't watched one minute of Game of Thrones: I have absolutely no idea what this HBO series is about. The theme now on my Wheel of Fortune app is Wheel of Thrones or Game of Wheel, I can't remember which, and I am purely guessing at puzzles with names of the characters, locations, pet-dragon names, whatever. Today I heard on a podcast I regularly listen to that in the most recent episode there was a Starbucks cup that made it into a broadcast-ed scene. Meh. I don't drink coffee either.
5) Still don't drink coffee: This appears to set me apart from most of the people I know or am related to. I maybe had one sip of coffee while in high school and hated it. It was way too hot and incredibly bitter. Blach. It's been suggested that I try iced-coffee or flavored coffee, coffee with cream and sugar, coffee with flavored cream (particularly "pumpkin spice" cream), a frappe or caramel macchiato. Forget it. I don't like the taste of coffee in any way, shape, form, temperature or flavor.
6) Didn't get the measles: I had the standard vaccinations during childhood and had to get an MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) booster as a requirement for attending college in Massachusetts in 1991. Two weeks ago I had a physical and my doctor ran a blood test to verify that I was immune to the measles. After having at least three vaccinations, she and I were pretty confident that I had developed immunity to measles. I work in public schools three days a week and the generation of my students are part of the anti-vaccination movement embraced by their parents. My measles immunity status was "inconclusive" according to the lab that ran my measles titre. WTF?? I've had one more vaccination compared to most people my age and yet my blood couldn't confirm immunity. I'm getting the first of two MMR vaccinations on Friday. I will receive the other 28 days later.
7) Still didn't have a kid: At 47 I would've been a super high risk pregnant woman. I'm not stupid and have never had unprotected sex before marrying my husband. Yes, really. When I started babysitting at 12 years old, I was like, "Oh hell no am I ever doing this." I made damn sure I did everything I could to prevent a pregnancy. The only exception to this was when Mark and I got married. We tried for 18 months to conceive. He had surgery to open up one of his one of his vas deferens; he was capable of producing children at some point because he has a daughter and a son from his first marriage. I had dye shot into my Fallopian tubes to verify they were functioning properly, which they were. Despite temperature taking and ovulation calendars, apparently it wasn't meant to happen, which, overall, we are ok with. Pregnancy is no longer an option because of my total hysterectomy in November 2018. Hot flashes be gone! And they are...mostly.
Those are at least seven things I didn't do when I was 47. Maybe I'll cross some of them off when I'm 48. Who knows?
