Leta Blake

author. human. working hard to become stellar at life.

Wishes

7 – Twenty Five Things Tuesday: Get Drunk In Front of this Mural Again

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First, on the list of things I apparently will never do again in my life–which, ha, really should be a whole other set of posts, because there are plenty of things I’ll never do again–I will apparently (and sadly) never be able to sit in the bar of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and get deliciously drunk while staring at this picture over the bar.

Parrish
The Pied Piper by Maxfield Parrish at The Palace Hotel.

The Palace Hotel has removed the icon from it’s place over the bar. To quote: The hotel said the painting was being sold because “it is no longer practical for the hotel to display, an original work of this value and cultural signifcance, in a public area.”

Wait, wait, wait! Hold the presses! As I was searching for the picture to go with the above, I found out that there was such public outcry that the hotel has decided not to sell the painting after all. Awesome news!!! I sure hope they put it back where it was. Getting drunk while staring at that painting is one of my fondest memories. So fond, I did it twice and had decided it would be worth the migraine to do it a third time.

Click to see the bigger file. No photo can truly capture it, though.
Click to see the bigger file. No photo can truly capture it, though.

So, I officially change this post back to the original topic of Twenty Five Things I want to do/accomplish before my eventual (hopefully far away) death. I want to get drunk staring at this mural again. Preferably in the Palace Hotel in the company of my husband and my dear, dear friend. The same dear friend my husband and I got drunk with the first two times, because, God, I haven’t seen her in forever. Heh. That should be another post in this series. It could be a series of posts. Friends I want to see again before I die (with my death being, hopefully, a long time from now, and the seeing their faces a short time from now).

Regardless! Thing Seven! Get drunk in front of the Pied Piper! Again!

6 – Twenty Five Things Tuesday: South of France

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So, most of these are probably going to consist of travel wishes, I realize. I mean, I’m almost forty and haven’t left North America! I’ve had plans to do so several times, but then things happened, as they do, and the plans fell through.

But, yes, one day, before I die, I’d like to vacation in the South of France. And any of these villas will do for a place to stay. I’m not too picky. Heh.

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5 – Twenty Five Things Tuesday: Follow My Ears With Feet

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I’ve seen plenty of Tori Amos concerts. Unfortunately, I’ve lost count, but the number is somewhere in the 20s at this point. But it is not enough!! I read about Ears With Feet (Tori fans) who have been to 100 concerts, or who have saved up a bunch of money, taken a leave of absence from work, and followed her around the world, and instead of having the reaction of a normal human, I think, “Oh, wow, I want to do that. A year of seventy Tori concerts? Are you kidding me? Yesssssss. All the yeses ever to yes!”

The issue? Money, job, responsibilities. If I ever get to do this, I’m sure it will be after my daughter is grown. Maybe she’d even want to come with me. If not, though, I’m pretty sure I could convince my BFF will come along for the ride.

If I were to rate the likelihood of any particular one of these, I’d have to admit this one is pretty low in terms of chances. It’s the sort of thing a person can maybe pull off in their early twenties, but as life creeps in, it becomes more and more difficult to make time for something like this. Perhaps it would make more sense if people understood that Tori Amos concerts are my church. There is literally no other time that I feel so completely connected to the universal, so in touch with my heart and spirit and soul, so uplifted and moved. There’s nothing that even touches it.

Before I die, I’d like to follow my church around the world, experiencing the service in far away lands.

4 – Twenty Five Things Tuesday: Will Write For Food

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Before I die, I want to earn my living writing books. Here’s the interesting thing, when it comes to this part of what I want to do before I die, I’m not sure that I care too terribly what kind of books they are. I don’t care if they are smut or deeply good, important books. I just want to make my living by writing them. Before I die. So, sometime in the next sixty years if I am lucky.

3 – Twenty Five Things Tuesday: Where the Orchids Grow

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Sometime before I die, I want to attend a Tori Amos concert with my daughter. It’s been a dream of mine since before I ever had her, and when it became clear that she loves Tori Amos, too, my dream only intensified. One day, we will sit in the audience together. Maybe we’ll hold hands. Maybe she’ll ignore that her mommy cries half of the show. Or maybe she’ll cry too.

1 – Twenty-Five Things Tuesday: Become A Woman

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Before I die, I’d like to see my daughter grow up to be as authentic a person as she can possibly become. I want to see her grow into her body and her spirit, which as always been so large. I want to be present as she her grows into her warm, sensitive, beautiful heart. I want to see her adult smile, her womanly strength, her rounded edges, her beauty in whatever form it takes. I want to learn from her as she learns from the world. I want to be the student to her teacher as she matures into someone I had no idea would even exist when she started out in my womb. I want to witness the end result of her genes, her upbringing, and her own special nature. If there is one thing in this world that I want to the exclusion of all others, this would be it.

Before I die, I want to see my daughter become a woman.

25 Things I Want To Do Before I Die

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By Trever Coe
By Trever Coe

It has been occurring to me lately that I’m almost forty. That’s not so very old, but it’s not so very young either. The time has passed for letting life slide by me without planning or effort, belief in years to come in which stuff will just simply ‘snap into place’ for me is no longer reasonable. Life has taught that, yes, sometimes good things just fall into your lap, but sometimes you have to decide to make them happen, too.

And so, it has come to this. Unless I actually admit in some real way to the twenty-five things I most want to do before I die, then I might not even know what they might before it is too late. I’d hate to be too old to travel and realize, “Gosh, it’s only just now occurred to me that I’d have liked to see Paris in springtime.”

Another thought that occurs to me about owning up to Twenty Five Things I Want To Do Before I Die–this is such an intimate question! I’m not sure I can answer it with complete honesty in this public space. The truth is there are things I want to do that are so incredibly unlikely simply because of a lack of talent or ability that it is embarrassing to admit to longing for it. But, hey, vulnerability is a good thing, right?

So, I’m starting a series of twenty-five things I want to do before death. Once a week for 25 weeks, I’ll post one of the things I want to do. I’m vowing to be as honest and vulnerable as possible, though I am not vowing to post them in order of importance, because that would be too difficult and lack spontaneity.

See you next Tuesday with the first one.