Reverb10 - Things for 2011

I have another list of things.  We're coming to a deadline tomorrow. Bring the review of 2010 to an end. Plan 2011.

Looking back on the daily reverb10 Prompts since December 10, I can't answer many of them with one-liner responses.  Some commenters on Twitter thought there was too much repetition in the Prompts.  Two of the Prompts wanted a list of Things - 11 Things I don't need to do again in 2011,  and 5 minutes of memories from 2010 I don't want to lose.


Twenty years ago, a good friend and massage therapist was working me over on the table.  She said, "There are too many shoulds in life."  She also described what she is, a psychic surgeon.  Be careful what you tell someone on a massage table. It can become embedded in your memory forever.

My list of Things as 2011 begins are not just shoulds, they are musts and must sees.  It's like Death and Taxes time for me.  I expect to live another 25 years. If not, I have a good spiritual  philosophy to take care of an early departure.

I mentioned in answer to another Prompt, that I am among the first wave of Baby Boomers to turn 65 in 2011.  I must do certain things beginning in February, three months before Medicare takes over my health care.  If I don't follow up on the assumption that my 3M Retiree benefits automatically do certain things when I become eligible for Medicare in May, it will be very difficult to do over later.  Here's one case where doing it right the first time matters.

There are things I always must do in January and February for tax preparation.  I could do the whole thing myself, but a good, trustworthy accountant in St. Paul gets a bundle of paperwork from me every year.  There hasn't been a time in the past twenty five years when significant changes in the tax laws, or life changes, didn't require an expert tax accountant.

Travel was the subject of another reverb10 Prompt.  The negative Thing in 2010, nothing worked out as planned.  It was our 40th wedding anniversary year.  We took one very good road trip to Branson, MO., and Bull Shoals, AK in the Spring.  We had planned a romantic get-away in July at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, an upgrade to the way we saw the island on our honeymoon. Death and near-death of family members canceled that trip.  We already canceled a cruise to Norway for June 2011. We can't afford it.

Travel plans for 2011 are more flexible.  The big ones are a Spring road trip to Williamsburg, VA, and Savannah, GA., and The Circle Tour of Lake Superior in the fall.  Norway could come into play.  A friend who lives there says she can do the cruise for 1/10th of the cost of the one we had booked, plus airfare.

Not everyone who reads my blogs is aware of the Baha'i Faith, unless you click on the links listed on the sidebars.  Planning is a major part of Baha'i life.  We all just got a 16-page Message from the Universal House of Justice.  It prepares us for two Five-Year Plans that will influence spiritual and social development in every community, Baha'i or not,  through 2021.  I must read it, study it, and actively engage with a global community.  Between now and the end of April, this is a major commitment. Must or what? It's as important to my spiritual reality as breathing, eating, and sleeping are physically. 

Ultimately, all of the creative arts, writing, and community action I'm committed to doing in 2011 are in the context of the Baha'i Plan.