cackle with impunity

I'm 50 years old. I'm 50 years old. I'm 50 years old.

Nope, it doesn't matter how many times I say it: it still sounds like I'm talking about someone else. Me, fifty? No way. (Except that I am...)

When I went to Canada in July I bought a copy of their version of More Magazine (it's a lot better that ours, by the way) to read on the plane, and inside found this article: 50 Things to do for Your 50th Birthday. 

Some of the suggestions made me smile:

3. What did you love to do when you were 10? Draw, ride horses, play piano? Do it again.

4. Give yourself permission to flip the bird to the universe and burn your copy of The Secret.

One made me a little sad:

25. Write your own eulogy and then file it away with your will.

And then I got to this one, and literally laughed out loud:

46. Forget about composing a bucket list and instead draw up a fuck-it list: things I will no longer worry about or bow down to, such as demanding relatives or those last 10 pounds.

I've pretty much lived my life fuck-it list style, which is why my 80 year old mother is currently not speaking to me, and why my ex-husband said of me, after our last conversation,"I put up with her shit for 20 years, and I don't have to put up with it any more!" (Except that sometimes he still does have to...) 

I've never made a list, though, and I love lists! So here, in no particular order, is 

My (Incomplete) Fuck-it List:

·        I will not pretend I'm heterosexual, Republican, or Christian. It's okay with me if you are, I'm just...not.

·        I will speak up against bigotry and hate whenever I encounter it. 

·        If I see you abusing a child or an animal, I'm going to say something to you, and/or call the cops. My definition of those things may be stricter than yours, but if it looks abusive to me, I'm on it.

·        If I see someone doing something nice, or looking like they need a kind word, I will say something. They may think I'm crazy, but it may make their day. That's a chance worth taking.

·        I will address bad customer service. If someone is doing their best and it's still not good, that's one thing. But if they're not really trying? I'm on it.

·        I will Laugh. Out. Loud.

One of the best things about gathering years

is the right to cackle with impunity.

- Clarissa Pinkola-Estes

What would you add to this list?

Next up: My Bucket List, aka "Things to do Before I Go"

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