My girlfriend HRH told me tonight her grandmother was dying. A brain tumor, 3 to 6 months tops. It’s one of those cases where a) grandma is a hypochondriac but no one saw this coming until she put her shirt on inside out twice in a week and b) no one thought she would go before grandpa.

In the days between the MRI/diagnosis and surgery, she shopped for headstones and called in with updates like “did you know a headstone is much less expensive in town A than town B? We’re looking at one of those double headstone jobs and I wand rose quarts but your grandfather says it’s too feminine…” and canning illegal quantities of beans.

I think the beans are partly to keep her busy in addition to the previously given explanation of a way to make sure the grandfather still eats his veggies when she’s gone.

I asked her “what would you do if you found out today you have 3 months? I mean really, all your friends work, it’s not like they can all be by your side every day to keep you preoccupied. And realistically, you’re probably not going to feel well enough to travel and take care of that long list of things you always wanted to do.”

She thought for a moment and moved on, but I didn’t. Not really.

I have my list, and I’m working on it…because you just don’t know.

Here’s my incomplete list, what’s on yours?

~ Take a bellydance class (done)
~ Learn to play the drums, the cello or the harp
~ Run a full marathon, no more half marathons
~ Go to Ireland, solo for a week(done)
~ Sky dive
~ Laugh…a lot (on going)
~ See the pyramids
~ Learn to snowboard
~ Stay in a treehouse in Fiji (or at least south Georgia)(done, the GA part)
~ Continue to be thankful (on going)
~ Swim nekkid in a big bright blue ocean with no one around for miles(done)
~ Learn to ride (aka drive, man, command) a motorcycle or scooter
~ Finish at least one script and submit it
~ Compete in a biathlon or triathlon
~ Grab a cheap fare and split for Paris or London on a whim(done)
~ Travel on a whim more: Paris, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid, Zurich or Rome
~ Go to a concert, deal with the crowd, and be happy about it(done)
~ Play a team sport and not freak out about it(done)
~ Learn to knit(done)
~ Take a photography class and buy a better camera(done)

Random footnote: my friend HRH? She has a drinking problem.