The List

When I turned thirty, I made a list: "30 Things I Want to Do Before I'm 40." Learn guitar, visit Japan, run a marathon, fall in love.\n\nI'm thirty-seven. I've done three things on that list.\n\nFor a while, I felt like a failure. But then I looked at what I had done — things not on the list.\n\nI adopted a dog who saved my life. I became a godmother. I learned to cook. I survived a breakup that nearly destroyed me.\n\nNone of those were on the list. But they mattered more than anything on it.\n\nI threw the list away last week. Life isn't a checklist. It's a messy, unpredictable, beautiful journey. And the things that matter most are the ones you never planned for.