Wrapping up Day Zero (for now at least)

Over three months ago, I posted the last monthly update about my Day Zero (101 things in 1001 days) project.  I started DZ just a few months after moving into my "new" house, and right after my younger daughter graduated from high school, starting on July 1, 2010 and ending on March 29, 2013, presuming I counted the days correctly.  I had a lot of life-revising to do back then.  Sort of like re-starting your computer from scratch.  A "cold boot" in [old-fashioned] computer terms.

I knew I needed to create structure in my new life, hence "newfutureahead" (this blog was one of my 101 things) so the ready-made structure of the Day Zero Project was appealing.  I fashioned my list to combine a "to do" list, a few "bucket list"-type projects, and a number of aspirational goals, as well as a couple of things I hoped to do often enough to become a habit.

After I jotted down a number of ideas, I found that my best approach was to categorize them.  During my 1001 days, I completed all 8 that were labelled "Financial/Legal", all 4 "Entertainment" (I surpassed my number of books to read and movies to watch relatively early in the process), and finished all but one of the 9 "Family and Friends" goals.  The last of those was to help D#1 get her driver's license which didn't fall inside the deadline, but has since been accomplished!  

Only 18 of my goals remained untouched at the close of the project!  Almost half that number, in "Home Improvement" or "Recreation," were not undertaken because of physical or financial limitations.  The rest were mostly "Education/Self-Development", though there were two unstarted quilts in "Hobbies" and one entry under "Charitable/Religious" that was never available to me within the time frame.  I made some degree of progress on 6 other goals, mostly related to "Health," on which I know I need more focus.

Overall, DZ was a positive experience for me, helping me to do just what I set out to do: get specific things done while remaking my life in a larger sense.   I'm beginning to put together a list for a follow-up DZ project, to begin at some unspecified future date.  About a third of that list will be the unfinished (and un-begun) items from DZ1, along with a number of actions that I want to keep doing actively.  With my younger daughter beginning her senior year of college in about 5 weeks, there will be more re-structuring to do before long. 

For the one or two of you who read here, my blog isn't going away.  I hope to do some catch up posts that are travel- or quilt-related, and then to try to be more regular in posting.   See you soon!

Forward or backward?

At my Circle meeting last night, we heard -- almost accidentally -- about a church member who had been opposed to the Memorial Garden which has been "in the works" for a number of years now.  That anonymous person had been visited by a Circle/Council member who had been asked by Council to approach him/her to find out the reason for his/her opposition.  In their meeting, the objector expressed the belief that the congregation should be looking forward and not backwards, viewing the establishment of  Memorial Garden as looking to the past.

I found that idea quite illogical, as everyone alive now will die eventually.  Facing that fact and planning for it is, indeed, planning for the future.  Death is not reserved for the old, though it visits them more frequently.   My Christian faith helps me accept this inevitability and, with it, my reunion with the saints that have gone before me.  When I die, I plan to have my ashed interred in the Memorial Garden and am grateful for the forward-thinking congregation that is making this possible.

This morning, as I left my home for work, my driveway was blocked by another car.   I walked down the drive to request that the driver move his car so I could get mine out.  He was talking with Cheryl, the daughter of my sharing-the-driveway neighbor has shared the home with her father and her sons since separating from her husband early this year.  As I got closer to the group, Cheryl blurted out that her father had died early this morning.  He was at his cabin in the mountains and had a heart attack.  The 911 responders had reached him too late. 

Keep alert, as this week's sermon advised.  Events seemingly in the future can become part of the past at any time.   Rest in peace, John.

Step 0 -- Finish list

Have my 101 in 1001 list ready to go, but will wait to post it until June 30.   D#2 left for a month in Europe -- her flight takes off in about an hour.  Starting tomorrow morning, I will be out of town for 4 days for work.  Looking forward to having dinner on Sunday with others from  MLC Forum that saved my sanity when the world as I knew it blew up in my face in mid-September 2007. 

On my return, an empty house awaits me, where I will "try out" empty-nesting for several weeks until it comes around for real in late August.   On the bright side, I already have plans for all but one weekend day when D#2 is gone.  If I can just focus, there are lots of things around the house that need attention where progress can be made in an evening or two. In many ways, I'm looking forward to the solitude and to the lack of demands on me. 

During that time, I will also need to meet with their father to get finances straight and talk about where we go legally, when, and how.   I am ready to have everything done and separated so the only thing we have to do together is pay for their college.   Oops... started to give away a couple of things on my list.