Things I Still Want to Do

I've been having troubling dreams the past little while, nightmare futures where I am trapped in places and situations that are horrible to me.  To combat this, I am making a list of things I still want to do, still plan to do instead.

1)  Stand before the Great Sphynx -- I have always, always loved Ancient Egypt.  Some of the first books I checked out of any library as a tiny child were about the gods and pharoahs of that long-dead civilization.  One day, I am going to go to Giza and see the pyramids and the lion-bodied mystery.  Maybe it will whisper to me.

2) Learn to throw pottery and handform pottery.  I almost had this one.  I was so close I actually had clay on my hands.  I will do this.  Now I have to put it back on my list.  Frustrating, that.....

3)  See the Taj Mahal. -- One of my students brought me back a beautiful little alabaster model of this wonder of the world when he went to India for the first time.  It is among my treasured items.  I have always wanted to see the Taj Mahal.  Something about the structure, even in pictures, calls out to me. 

4)  Open a small rescue kennel for pit bulls -- There is not a purely pit bull rescue organization in this area, and I'd like to give these worthy animals a second chance the way somebody did for my Roux. 

5)  Walk along the Great Wall -- Seems most of my goals have to do with going somewhere.  I want to see this monument of man, one of the only works of man so large that it can be seen from space.  Plus, I want to see China, a task much more complicated than it sounds.  It's a bit like saying "I want to see America," really.  Speaking of which....

6)  Go to Albuquerque to see some of my family's personal past and another part of this country -- My father was raised out west.  I want to take a road trip and stop in Texas and Oklahoma along the way to see all the places I've heard about all my life and reconnect with that side of my family.

There are more things, of course, but these are enough for now.  Enough to refocus me and give me perspective, give me something to scheme and plan for.  Hopefully they are enough to give me something to dream about instead of the horrible stuff my subconscious has been kicking out lately in its place.