EIGHTY THINGS FOR EIGHTY YEARS

The Psalmist teaches: “…the span of our life…given strength is eighty years…they pass by quickly.”  (Psalms 90:10)

Some wise people interpret this as the strength that may go beyond physical vigor. As many of you know, that’s not a problem for me, yet. So while I’m able I’ve composed this inane list for myself as I celebrate enty into my eightieth year of life. (FYI-I turned 79 on September 18.) I continue to dream, write, read, and remain feisty.

I hope you will help in this quest or pass it on to others who can assist and if I don’t do it all, at least I can dream and fantasize.

1. Raise eight thousand dollars for National Resources Defense Council, 40 West 20^th Street, New York, New York, 10011, nrdc.org

From their website:

NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends.

I encourage you to make donations to the National Defense Fund in amounts of 8: eight cents, eighty cents, eight dollars, eighty dollars, etc. Be sure to let them know to acknowledge me, so I can thank you properly.

2. Participate in a Habitat for Humanity Project
3. Participate in Beach Clean-up Day in San Diego

Visits to the following states (stay at least two nights)

4. Arkansas
5. Delaware
6. Iowa
7. Kansas
8. Missouri
9. Kentucky
10. North Dakota
11. West Virginia
12. Nebraska

Some more National Parks, (providing they are still there), Monuments, Presidential libraries and miscellaneous things

13. Clinton Library
14. Truman Library
15. Eisenhower Library
16. Kennedy Library
17. Tuskegee National Monument, Alabama
18. Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
19. Death Valley, California
20. Mesa Verde, Colorado
21. Everglades National Park, Florida
22. Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
23. Gateway Arch National Park, Missouri
24. Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
25. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
26. Big Bend National Park, Texas
27. Ranier National Park, Washington
28. Lincoln Library
29. Mississippi River Cruise
30. Grand Canyon Railway

Attend the following events:

31. Academy Awards
32. Super Bowl
33. A World Series game
34. Semi-finals and finals, Wimbledon
35. Semi-finals and finals, Paris Open (tennis)
36. Semi-finals and finals, USA (Forest Hills)

Miscellaneous:

37. Meet the Obamas and hug Michelle
38. Meet the Clintons and shake hands with both of them
39. Hold a Torah scroll on Erev Yom Kippur at Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego
40. Be on the Today Show
41. Get VIP seats for three hit Broadway shows.
42. Stay in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel
43. Publish a chap book of poetry
44. Finish my memoir: Sitting on the Stoop and find a publisher
45. Spend eighty hours or more with my grandchildren
46. Crystal Bridges Museum
47. Louis Arches
48. Read Torah portion, Nitzavim, on Yom Kippur at Beth Israel

World Travel:

49. A Crystal Cruise to anywhere
50. Somehow, some way, get to the Arctic Circle

Mexico:

51. Merida
52. Puebla
53. Chiapas
54. Chinchen Itza
55. Oaxaca

Africa:

56. Victoria Falls
57. Kilimanjaro
58. Capetown
59. Cruise along the Chobe River
60. Ethiopia
61. Zanzibar

Europe:

62. Norway—with five days in a five star hotel in Oslo
63. Sweden
64. Finland
65. Southern Spain and Gibralter
66. Armenia
67. Veg out in Santorini
68. See the Colossus of Rhodes
69. The Balkans

South America:

70. Brazil
71. Uruguay
72. Bolivia
73. Chile

North America:

74. Costa Rica
75. Cuba

Asia:

76. Revisit China, especially Western China
77. Revisit Laos and travel north from Luang Prbang
78. Sri Lanka
79. Indonesia, especially Bali and Kuala Lumpur

Australia

80. Revisit and hang with my friends