You Don't Have To Eat A Bacon Flavored Cricket, But If You Never Do, You'll Never Know How Awful It Tastes

Have you ever eaten a cricket? 
What about chocolate covered bacon?
Have you ever eaten a meal made entirely out of corn products?
Have you ever had an animal you've cared for die in your arms?
Have you ever smelled sulfur gas as you looked into the crater of a volcano?
Jumped off of a waterfall?
Climbed to the top of a Mayan temple?
Grown a person  inside of you then pushed her out without any pain killers?
Fed a baby from your own body?
Climbed to the crown of the Statue of Liberty?
Rode the legendary Cyclone at Coney Island?
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge?
Hugged Mickey Mouse? 
Rode a horse through a hail storm at the top of a Rocky Mountain?
Ridden a camel?
Touched the wall inside of a gold mine?
Eaten a crepe on the quais outside Notre Dame de Paris?
Breathed in the mist of a Central American cloud forest?

     I have. I have done all of these things. Some are extraordinary. Some not so much. Some of these experiences were amazing. Some I don't ever need to have again (eating a cricket being top of that list). Still I cherish these moments. Every one of them was an amazing experience. And that's all life really is, isn't it? A string of amazing experiences loosely connected by routine day to day dramas.

     Some people spend their entire life wondering what the meaning of it all is. Why are we here? What is our purpose. I believe that we come into this life with the sole purpose of experiencing humanity. Then we die and leave it all behind. Whatever your belief in an afterlife is, one thing is certain. We all live for a while as humans, and then die. We are only here for a short time. So why not make the most of it? I have a list that I wrote in 1996. I was 19. It's my "Things to do before I die list" Some things are checked off. Some were crossed off. Some need to be added. I have so much I still need to do. I want to live this life to its fullest. I want to experience everything I possibly can before I die. I want to sky dive. I want to set foot on every continent and in every ocean. I want to taste everything. I want to give till I'm empty. Love till it hurts. I want to dance, and sing and laugh. And then dance and sing and laugh some more.  Sometimes I feel like I have this fire inside of me. And some days it smolders while I change diapers, and wash dishes and make lunches for school. Other days it burns so hot that I just want to jump out of my skin and fly. Those are the days when you pass my classroom and I'm loudly singing and making a fool of myself in front of 25 11 year olds. Those are days when I eat chocolate cake slowly, and slide down my neighbor's zip-line, and let my husband dare me to eat a bacon flavored cricket.

I hope you have those days. Lots of them. I hope you are tasting and singing and dancing and laughing. I hope you are loving, and playing and capturing as many moments as you can. GO! Go do something extraordinary. If not extraordinary, at least fun! And now I will take my own advice and do the same...ciao!