If you're not living, then you are dying

I remember something I learned in high school Anatomy and Physiology (one of my favorite classes ever).... Simultaneously, we are all living/growing and dying. While we are young, we are living/growing at a much faster rate then we are dying, we kind of even out in the middle, and then at the end of our lives we are dying at a faster rate than we are living/growing.

Maybe a slightly morbid thought- but I don't really think so.

I think the most morbid thing, is to be in the living stage- but not really live. I think that saddest thing is to simply exist. To simply live, and not to thrive. That is scary for me. To be dying while living- that is much scarier.

So recently I bought a book- 2001 things to do before you die (or I like to call it my how to really live book.) And it always cheers me up to read it, because I've actually done quite a bit for my mere 24 years.

For example (as suggested in the book) I've:

-organized a food drive

-flirted

-mastered the art of letter writing (or so I like to think)

-stayed in bed all day

-given someone a reason to believe in God (hopefully)

-done something scandalous

-built a tree house

-decoupage a table

-wrote a letter to the editor

-spent one month without a TV

-spent a day in the nursing home

-cleaned out my closet and donated to the needy

-donated books

-read Atlas Shrugged

-read to children

-spent a day with a toddler

-found a long, straight road and saw how fast I could go (I don't suggest this)

-fossil-hunted

-dried some flowers

-gone on a silent retreat

-traveled alone

-learned to sew

-gone paintballing

-skinny dip

-go on an unplanned trip

-caught fireflies

-swim with dolphins

-made my own icecream

-done cartwheels for no reason

-rolled my own sushi

-walked on the beach in the winter

-left my umbrella and took a walk in the rain

-gone someplace where I saw a moose and a bear

-talked a cop out of a ticket (more like cried out of one)

-vote

-dyed my hair

-swallowed my pride

-line danced

-write a haiku

-talked to my grandparents about their childhoods

-sung the Hallelujah chorus in the shower

-change jobs

-mended fences

-played Hamlet (yes, I have)

-run through sprinklers with my clothes on

-harmonized

-started a conversation with a stranger

-written thank you notes when it wasn't required

-carried someone else's burden

-thrown a surprise party

-finger paint

-caught a snowflake on my tounge

-seen a rode0

-cut off a bad relationship

-had a really great foot massage

-moved

-given a friend a copy of my favorite book

-eaten salt water taffy

-sung Christmas carols in August

-climbed a tree

-hang a spoon from my nose

-write a personal note on Chrismtas cards

-had a cookout that ended with s'mores

-enjoyed a moment without expecting it to last

-taken the Meyer's Briggs

-roll down a small hill

-made soup from scratch

-picked a lock

-pulled an all nighter

-win a game of Trivial Pursuit

-ordered from the kids menu

-shopped from a farmers market

-coached little league

-been a godparent

-skipped rocks

-worn two different shoes

-found out if blondes do have more fun (they don't)

-gone down in a submarine

-sat in an empty church and sang

-visited an ice cream truck

-made my own recipe for chili

-attended an outdoor blue grass festival

-finished a game of Risk

-mamboed

-left cookies and milk for Santa

-read banned books

-been a write in on a ballot (thank you TTU bio department!)

Apparently, I'm living. And I plan on continuing the trend....