Experiences I Am Grateful For

• Standing on The Great Wall of China with my mom
  
• Having my name listed in the acknowledgments at the front of a novel
• Viewing NYC from the top of the World Trade Center towers
• Buying a house all on my own
• Taking pictures of Paris from up in the Eiffel Tower
• Growing up getting to play frequently at the Happiest Place On Earth (Disneyland)
• Sitting and looking at the Mona Lisa
• Sunbathing topless on a beach of the French Riviera
• Being gifted with a love song written and recorded for me
• Lettering in varsity
  
• Riding in a horse drawn carriage through Central Park
• Rubbing onto paper a soldier's name off the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC
• Watching the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace
• Seeing the Grand Canyon
• Standing on The Grassy Knoll in Dallas, TX
• Being proposed to
• Standing in awe at Stonehenge
• Seeing a movie at Mann's (Grauman's) Chinese Theater
• Touching Jon Bon Jovi!!
• Taking the Chunnel under the English Channel
• Standing at Shakespeare's grave
• Walking hand-in-hand along the Champs Elysees
• Being thanked in the acknowledgment section on a cd
• Browsing the shops along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills
• Skydiving
• Strolling Les Rambles in Barcelona, Spain
• Being in 4 states at one time (4 Corners)
• Gazing up in amazement at the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel
• Cruising down the Yangtze River
• Riding a gondola in Venice, Italy with the man I loved
• Exploring the Kennedy Space Center
• Watching Old Faithful erupt
• Leaning with the Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Being an extra in a movie
• Attending an Olympic event (1984 in Los Angeles)
• Riding the train from NYC to Los Angeles
• Shopping Harrods in London
• Hiking to the top of Multnomah Falls in Oregon
• Spending time wandering and photographing Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny
• Snorkeling alongside sea turtles in Maui
• Being tipped by another player for rolling such a great round of dice at a craps table
• Visiting the house of Anne Franke in Amsterdam
• Seeing the Hollywood Sign
• Having my fortune told by Madame Marie in Asbury Park, NJ (a'la Bruce Springsteen)
• Sitting in the bleachers for a ballgame at Yankee Stadium
• Making strangers laugh so hard they've cried
• Touching the Berlin Wall
• Walking on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, AZ
• Touring Hearst Castle
• Receiving tossed strings of beads in New Orleans
• Getting kicked off the train in Spain due to a sudden rail strike
• Looking over the harbor from inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty
• Hiking in the Swiss Alps
• Piloting a boat on Lake Tahoe, NV
  
• Gazing around in awe inside the Library of Congress
• Visiting Pearl Harbor
• Escaping Alcatraz Island
• Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge
• Seeing movie stars out and about in the wilds of Hollywood (and NYC)
• Watching the sun set on Waikiki Beach
• Graduating college with honors
• Climbing to the top of Red Rock Amphitheater in Denver, CO
  
• Riding the bus from all the way across country (California to Massachusetts)
• Seeing the Liberty Bell when it was touring the United States by train
• Eating Belgium Waffles in Belgium
• White water rafting
• Watching a Space Shuttle land
• Having my picture taken with a donkey in Tijuana, Mexico
• Surviving a take-over bank robbery
• Figuring out that over time and various road trips that I have driven the entire length of I5 freeway from the Mexican border to the Canadian border
• Performing on the field of Dodger Stadium
• Being chauffeured around in a Ferrari
• Seeing Michelangelo's statue of "David" in Florence, Italy
• Taking a weedy patch of dead grass and creating a beautiful cottage-style flower garden.
  
• Gambling in Las Vegas
• Touring a Scotch Distillery in Scotland
• Helping to sail a sailboat
• Exploring the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam
• Sipping beer in Germany
• Watching the live taping of one of the final episodes of the tv sitcom "Cheers"
• Celebrating the striking of midnight twice the same night on New Year's Eve (two time zones)
• Boogie and body boarding the Southern California beaches
• Seeing a bridge lift for Tower Bridge in London
• Visiting the Colosseum in Rome
• Accidentally stumbling across the most perfect white sandy beach in Oahu
• Eating a Nathan's hot dog in Coney Island, NY with my dad
  
• Sleeping overnight on the sidewalk in order to save a spot to watch the Rose Parade in Pasadena, CA
• Shaking hands with Rob and Carl Reiner, Jonathan Winters, Leslie Nielsen
• Going to the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago
• Successfully knitting a pair of socks (which fit!)
  
• Spelunking
• Getting my kicks driving on Route 66
• Conversing in a mix of English, Spanish and French with a Spaniard in Barcelona in an attempt to find the post office
• Having a wonderful dinner and watching amazing magic at the Magic Castle in Hollywood
• Being in a parade
• Browsing the fabulous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
• Taking pictures atop Victoria Peak in Hong Kong
• Ringing in a new year making love at midnight to the man I loved
• Flying in a little Cessna plane (and briefly piloting) on a jaunt from Los Angeles to Catalina Island
• Gaining insight into prison life by touring a not-yet-opened (at the time) women's prison in Wilsonville, Oregon
• Touring the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland
• Driving to Canada just to watch a hockey game
• Falling asleep to a show of twinkling lights across Lake Como in Italy
• Midnight forays with my sisters to surreptitiously shake presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
  
• Bruce Springsteen concerts!
• Seeing the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, China
• Being first place champions of my entire league for high school doubles tennis
• Sipping a beer in the original "Cheers" bar in Boston, Massachusetts
  
• Being in 17 countries (so far) (US, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, China, Hong Kong)

(to be continued! :))