Here comes 32.

When I was in my early twenties, I declared that I would accomplish a handful of things by the time I reached 30 years of age. Tonight is the eve of my 32^nd birthday and I must admit that out of the three... wait, four... goals that I set for myself a decade ago, I've only accomplished a single one in my 30^th year. A few months before my 31^st birthday, I found myself practicing my signature over and over again on pieces of scratch paper, preparing for the signing of mortgage and title documents. I even selected the pen with which I would sign my name. March 31, 2012 will go down in history as the day that I started my journey through the myriad of emotions that come with home ownership. Regardless, the mental and financial anguish of purchasing and owning a home cannot overcome the pride, excitement and joy of waking up each morning and thinking, "this is my house that I shall make into my home, each and every single day." I'd like to take this time to thank Home Depot for carrying a million color choices on free color sample card. I would also like to thank the creators of Allure vinyl plank flooring.

So, what about those other as yet unfulfilled goals? My 30^th birthday came and went, and so did those goals, well, at least for a while. I sulked in defeat, just for a little, after turning 30. However, the pouty phase eventually wore off and so what if I was 31 when it occurred, I did don a cap and gown once again - this time with a hood, sash, and cords - and survived another commencement exercise that marked my completion of a Master of Arts degree. This leaves two more of those four goals unchecked on the to-do list of my life. With the 30-years-old age deadline on these goals automatically lifted as of July 11, 2012, I have no choice but to make an exception to my self-imposed timeframe and to issue myself a supplemental agreement to extend time of performance (if you've done government procurement and contracting, you should probably get that, bonus if you laughed!). With time not waiting for my accomplishments to occur, my only two options are to 1) give up on those goals, and 2) keep trudging on toward them. Selecting option 1 will lead to a breach of contract, and that would be bad, so I am leaning toward selecting option 2 (Ha-ha-ha, more contracting lingo - so clever, huh?).

I am writing about this not to keep you, the reader, in suspense until I reveal the *gasp* remaining goals of my life. No, that is not the intent, and I probably will not even tell you what they are in this post. What I will tell you is that, as I get older, I feel like I am becoming more skilled at composing goals in business-like fashion, almost with documented action plans and logic models tracking my planned and actual progress toward outputs and outcomes. Hey, actually, that does not seem like such a bad idea; segue to the "Joys of OCD" blog post. On the contrary, what seems to matter more to me now is the fact that I have set these goals for myself and construct general plans to work toward them, not so much the accomplishment of the goal itself or the timeframe in which it should occur. These are not your run-of-the-mill "I will lose 5 pounds" type of goals, but goals that will take emotional and financial endurance like none other. Tomorrow morning, after I wake up, I will ask myself, "Am I ready to tackle working toward these goals?" Well, not before wishing myself a very happy birthday, of course. Okay, I think I’ll have my morning coffee before asking myself that. Actually, I should probably wait to see how my workday goes, too...

There is only one unaccomplished goal in my life that I can attach to the excuse of, "too late for that," and that would be the winning of a gymnastics medal. They don't hold competitions for gymnasts who mount their floor exercise routine with a cartwheel. Sadly, I don't think I could do a cartwheel now if I tried to; this is a sad thought knowing that I could once cover an entire basketball court with a array of handsprings, layouts and twists. Other than this one goal, I am pretty convinced that these other "big" goals that I have consciously (re)placed on my to-do list are achievable goals that are things that I want and things that I am confident about accomplishing.

I came across a quote from author Harvey MacKay online today:

           

            "A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline."  

I think that many of us allow our dreams die when we become engulfed with the "regular" things we need to do in our lives - parenting, working, cleaning, etc. - or just because we permit ourselves to become too lazy to work toward making a dream into a goal, and becoming even more lazy when it’s time to carry out the plan to achieve that goal. No matter where you are in life, I think it’s important to keep on dreaming and to keep on creating goals from your dreaming. Working with older individuals (a.k.a. “senior citizens” or “elderly”), I see lives being lived with vivacity and fervor by 70-or-80-plus year-olds. Some of our County’s “seniors” in the local line dance classes could probably out-dance me at a shindig. They are living actively despite the biological and sociological barriers that nag at them because they continue to dream, continue to set goals, and continue to thrive. Because they want to and believe that they can. They remind me that at this age, I really have no excuse to be a bundle of defeat.

The goals that still linger in my head are there because they are the products of a dream or two that I am holding onto. I have set some loose guidelines and timelines for them (again!), but will be a little more flexible than I was before; life happens, right? Who knows, they may happen tomorrow, for all I know. I just hope that my family and close friends are ready for a spur-of-the-moment wedding ceremony and reception. Just kidding. Simmer down, folks. That was just a mere example for illustrative purposes. J

Thanks for reading. If you understood, well, thanks for that, too!

Have an amazing day, everyone. God bless y’all!

P.S. Not a totally impressive goal, but here’s a little side story related to a goal I set when I was in high school:

In 1995, Honda Motor Company’s “luxury” division launched the Acura TL sedan. It sported the clean and perfectly balanced lines and build of the Honda lineup of the time, complete with frameless glass windows and yellow fog lights integrated into the headlamps (only true import junkies of that era will understand the “coolness” factor there). I requested a brochure from the Acura dealership in Honolulu as a visual reminder that I would someday drive an Acura TL. I held onto that brochure since then and trashed it only a few years ago.

That someday finally came. I have driven a 1997 Acura TL for the past few years thanks to a lucky buy through a family friend. It looks just like the one that I used to admire on that brochure.

Talk about being patient with a goal.