Failure begets...understanding.

For all intents and purposes, I’ve failed in my blogging goals. This should have been the entry where I would reflect on all I’ve experienced in the past year – one new thing a week to try, do, live through.

The doing I did. The writing about it was my struggle.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to write about. Instead, I found it hard to translate all the ‘new’ into words. Continuous rain literally dampened the mood in the house: soccer was cancelled; activities were cancelled; mould was a concern. Then getting Covid in April and taking two months to recover physically was another challenge to being creative. The mental recovery has taken longer, and I’ve only just realized how much slower I’ve been processing things.

In the end, I admit defeat. But in preparing the list below, I couldn’t help but be a little proud of 50 new things to my name. Some were larger challenges, while most were small opportunities that simply required me to say ‘ok.’

As I turn 50 this week, I hope this exercise has sharpened my intention to live consciously. Routine and rhythm are comforting, but it’s easy to forget how to switch things up in order to gain something new, or perhaps, gain something even better. I hope this next chapter of my life will allow me the opportunity to stretch beyond all that I know to date, and maybe…just maybe… inspire another blog post.

(Photos: Darook Park, NSW; street in Melbourne; turning 16 with a laser tag party).

#50to50 list of DONE:

1) Move to the Sierras.

2) Homeschool.

3) Visited Yosemite with the children.

4) Discovered a new walking route to the Lake.

5) Tried a new coffee place: Cup of Cherries.

6) Buy a car from the other side of the world – untested and apparently wrapped in plastic.

7) Lunched at a new restaurant: Riva Grill by the Lake.

8) Drive from the Sierras to Los Angeles ALONE.

9) Attend a BTS Concert.

10) Eat in Korea Town, Los Angeles.

11) Pull over on the I-5 to stick duct tape under my car.

12) Drive to Los Angeles three times in a month.

13) Move a family to the other side of the world.

14) Move into a house I’ve never seen before.

15) Live in the Shire.

16) Go uniform shopping in Australia.

17) Attend the Sydney Tennis Classic at Ken Rosewall Stadium.

18) Buy furniture from Gumtree

19) Buy my now-legal-to-drink-in-Australia-aged son a beer.

20) Go to Wanda Beach.

21) Visit the Hazelhurst Gallery.

22) View art by the Archibald Prize finalists.

23) Have coffee and milkshakes (with the children) at Bacchus Café.

24) Attend a musical at the Lyric Theatre: ‘Hamilton.’

25) Go to Boat Harbor Aquatic Reserve, Kurnell.

26) Visit the Museum of Contemporary Arts, Sydney.

27) Have brunch at the Rocks (The Rocks Café).

28) Dinner at Jensens (Kerala) – cocktails were excellent!

29) Go to the National Art Gallery with O.

30) View the Matisse exhibition.

31) Watch a live-stream concert at a movie theatre with V and two very loud screaming teenagers.

32) Dine with SS in the city

33) Attend a musical with the children: “Mary Poppins”

34) Go through a Winter soccer season that also meant eating a sausage sizzle every weekend.

35) Watch our nieces and nephew play competitive sport.

36) Experience daily rain for weeks which forced us to use the dehumidifier option in our air-conditioner. Never knew what the ‘drops’ icons on the remote meant until then.

37) Attend children’s Athletics Carnival.

38) Have Covid.

39) Sick with one thing or another (non-Covid) from June to August.

40) Dine at the Rock Salt Café, Jannali.

41) Teach the children how to take the bus to Westfield Shopping Center.

42) Attend a 21st Party and watch my older son have his first cocktail.

43) Plan a birthday party in Australia for my 16-year-old: Laser Tag

44) Dinner at the Moonlight Café with just the children.

45) Attend my first teacher conferences in Australia.

46) Brunch at the BoatShed Café, Woronora River.

47) Registering my dog with the Council to make it legal.

48) Go to the Powerhouse Museum with the children during a teacher’s strike.

49) Attend a book discussion hosted by the Korean Cultural Center.

50) Volunteer at the school for election day ‘democracy sausage and bake sale’ fundraiser.

51) Be the ‘licensed’ adult in the car so my teenager can earn his driving hours.

52) See my first redback spider.

53) Dine at V's classmate's restaurant. She hid her head when he came over to serve us.

54) Join several clubs for approximately $3 / year.

55) Participated in a photoshoot where someone else was in charge of styling, make up and photography.

56) Go to Mel’s salon, Locks and Lilly.

57) Stay in Melbourne on my own – a trip of many firsts.

58) Go to the National Art School with O.

59) Hang out in Darook Park at sunset with family.

60) Celebrate Father’s Day in Australia with my husband, his father and our children.