because I want a lot of like-whoa's.

I've started a list.
I think it's typical around this time.
We look at the year ahead and think of resolutions, trips we want to take, set aside time to map out and prepare ourselves for big plans.
But it seems like resolutions have a way of only lasting a good 2 hrs into New Year's Day, trips require hours of pre-planning (if you know me, you know this is laughable), and big plans turn into half-day events.
These can be good things thought up with good intentions, but sometimes grander doesn't always mean greater. And sometimes, I forget that.

What tends to linger in my mind the most are the smallest of places, circumstances, and encounters....like Dad and his insistence on a live Christmas tree.  And my brother and summertime and Coca-Cola.  Or how whenever I hear John Denver, I think Mom and long car trips.  Small things.

This year, I want more small things that are really the big things.  I want to have a lot of this-one-time's and like-whoa's and tell a lot of tales about this one long adventure because that's what it always is with God. An adventure.
And that will be my reason.

So. this is my list...my list of big small things for 2013.  Twenty and counting.

1. Learn to play the banjo.
2. Start and finish St. Augustine's Confessions.
3. Dance in a Chicago cafe, because the music in Chicago cafes is typically dance-worthy.
4. Create something from Pinterest.
5. Trade books with a stranger.
6. Do a New York Times crossword puzzle.
7. Spanish Spanish Spanish
8. Visit my Dad in Montana, coffee and conversation included. (ok, yes, it's a trip. definitely no hours spent on pre-planning. beyond buying a plane ticket...or a car).
9. Write at least 5 letters of encouragement. one, to someone I've never met.
10. Buy a bike, name it, and ride it in the city.
11. Buy a friend popcorn from the stand in my hometown.
12. Try a new food. a new, new food. like alligator or octopus.
13. Do more pinky-swearing.
14. Make my Grandma's peanut butter fudge. following a recipe. successfully.
15. Be intentional about finding Jesus in the seemingly small things, and thank Him for them.
16. Spend a weekend at a local monastery.
17. Take at least two weeks off all Facebook and Pinterest.
18.  Find a quiet spot somewhere and quite literally, put my name on it.
19. Read Scripture aloud.
20. Write more about Mom.