I want to eat an antipasto salad and a pomegranate and an order a steak fries. I want to watch a bird go about its business and I'd like to discuss physics. I want to roll a hefty stone down a hill and sit on a tree branch about a third of the way up. I want to glance very, very briefly at the sun (so quickly that it doesn't hurt) and wash the dirty pots and pans. I want to stay up all night and feel good about how suede feels when you rub it against the grain. I want to ride in an old rusty wagon where one slightly out-of-true wheel struggles to keep up and compliment the check-out lady on her efficiency. I want to feel good when I hear a dog scratching on the screen door with both paws; wanting to be let in and I want to learn to appreciate the simplicity of an abacus.
I want to watch a major rocket launch and have my time consumed watching ants go in and out of their anthill. I would like to discover a new method for determining the distance to Jupiter and land on its moon, Europa (at least in my imagination). I want to sleep in late on Sunday and work as a hod carrier. I realize that carrying hod is hard work but so is living, sometimes. I want to read a novel of pulp fiction and value the intricacies of virtual particle theory. I would love to learn to dance Argentine Tango and then master the art of rhetoric. I would like to read Dante’s Inferno and War and Peace but I feel they are too dense for me.
I would like to fall into a field of dandelions and pull a kid around on a large piece of cardboard and pretend I am a horse pulling a wagon in the old west. If the world were flat, I would walk to the edge and look over. I’m not afraid of heights. I don’t gamble but I’m not averse to taking risks. I love how babies look at you and I wonder what they are thinking. I feel good after a late afternoon thunderstorm when everything has an electric feel to it. I want to experience a total solar eclipse where the world looks like an alien planet; black in the middle with stars out, and red at the horizon. I fear that I’m getting old sometimes and I want to immediately remember that I’m actually very young. I want to sit in the library and giggle over some silly comment the librarian made.
I want to tell my neighbor that his dog barks all night long. He must hear it barking.
I would love to see my cat and best friend Rascal again. I want to tell my father how much I miss him. I’d love to go back in time and not say half the things I’ve said. I want to listen actively and speak more precisely. I’d love to see a bright orange Tanager in a green bush.
I want to watch a baseball game and ask the guy next to me which one is the home team. I want to strike up a conversation with a stranger on the street and ask for their opinion. I want to feel the sand between my toes and taste the salty ocean. I want to sit under a big cottonwood tree and watch the sunshine dapple the cool shade. I want to float upon the laughter I hear. I want to tell someone that everything is going to be okay. I want to still my mind and embrace all of my emotions. I want to be free. I want to love and be loved. I want to become a champion.
That's quite a few things but I believe I can do it.
