When I was 41, my husband intro-ed me to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“. The premise of the book is “The answer is 42” and the main character searches for the QUESTION!
I won’t do a spoiler alert - it also was a series on PBS if it’s still available.
MY question was simple but consuming: what had I wanted to do but either felt I couldn’t or just never got around to. Time was flying by, I thought .
TO SHARE MY NEW YEAR IDEA, I must first share some of the ”risks” I included:
I compiled a list of 42 thoughts and randomly chipped away at them. Many were small but several were - at the time - unthinkably large and maybe unattainable. But with a lot of will I found the ways.
* I learned to swim 🏊♀️ (well, go the length of the UW pool without holding on to the edge).
* My husband had motivated me by offering a vacation of my choosing based on beautiful water. Lots of people suggested Mexico, but for the same price I found a charter to Tahiti(Morea) - the water of Gauguin - pure joy AND the saltiness kept me afloat!… BONUS travel agent unbeknownst to me scheduled us on a “charter” - turned out to be on AIR FRANCE first class to fill empty seats!
* As a child,I recurringly dreamt of that feeling an “antelope” probably has taking large leaps over vast nothingness. I added skiing to my list and the 1st day thought THIS is the feeling I dreamt of BUT the long skis were tricky and created small disasters. Years later I tried again but on short trick skis with great success…the sound of the ski shwoosh now watching the Olympics still brings back that amazing childhood feeling…
* There was the 4-day long-weekend route I mapped out to explore many places in NYC I had heard about. Alone. And loved it so much that I came back for a week
* to see plays (12 in all) which gave me insight on how one could comment on them. These included 1 Broadway play, several off-Broadway plays and with delight some off-off Broadway plays (these up 3 fights of stairs sitting on orange crates in an emptied out LR/DR…being 3 feet from the action including the top actor who was their mentor and worked hard. NOT to upstage them!…
* I returned a 3rd time, the week before xmas to see store windows and holiday cheer - flying back xmas eve to be with my dear husband. The flight ✈️ home was full of cheer and goodwill - the stewardess passing out individually wrapped small gifts to the passengers - pause now, please, to think about that!!!
* I started going on long bicycle rides - flatness being key to each route my husband helped find which made it possible to go 20 miles many times…
* I decided I would know I was well off if I could have flowers in the house almost year round - so I planted foolproof Spring bulbs, summertime rose bushes, and green onions for the winter. STEMS of flowers at the very least…
* My husband encouraged me to add bring part of a group show…
plus the many very small experiences filling up the effort of 42.
So you can see the wildest dream had some basis in possibility even while living “on a dime”… the lack of funds required a balance tipping majorly to initiative.
SO YOU MIGHT WELL ASK -Whaaat is the plan for 2024? I *would* do more of the same but really I want to find the smallest of small experiences and savor them in search their “largeness”.
(20)24 feels like the reverse complement to the importance of finding the question for the answer 42.
So I am starting a list today of QUESTIONS [24] to explore in the coming year:
*What does a Pandan waffle taste like?
[spoiler alert - I started with that one this morning - and found the answer at
*What is the perfect color(s) of my year/month/week/day?
*How long do dried rose petal leaves keep their original fragrance?
*What defines the core of “favorite” for me?…
*Make a collage once a week that expresses something about where I am at - may just conceptually. Then at the end of 2024 see what that storyline turned out to be…
This then is how it goes - making conversations with myself; maybe finding new depths through outer experiences.
Honestly, I’ve sloughed off the last 10 years, just living with myself on my personal laurels of previous years.
But ..24 triggered the excitement of opportunities that 42 had done…
When I was 41, my husband intro-ed me to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy“. The premise of the book is “The answer is 42” and the main character searches for the QUESTION!
I won’t do a spoiler alert - it also was a series on PBS if it’s still available.
MY question was simple but consuming: what had I wanted to do but either felt I couldn’t or just never got around to. Time was flying by, I thought .
TO SHARE MY NEW YEAR IDEA, I must first share some of the ”risks” I included:
I compiled a list of 42 thoughts and randomly chipped away at them. Many were small but several were - at the time - unthinkably large and maybe unattainable. But with a lot of will I found the ways.
* I learned to swim 🏊♀️ (well, go the length of the UW pool without holding on to the edge).
* My husband had motivated me by offering a vacation of my choosing based on beautiful water. Lots of people suggested Mexico, but for the same price I found a charter to Tahiti(Morea) - the water of Gauguin - pure joy AND the saltiness kept me afloat!… BONUS travel agent unbeknownst to me scheduled us on a “charter” - turned out to be on AIR FRANCE first class to fill empty seats!
* As a child,I recurringly dreamt of that feeling an “antelope” probably has taking large leaps over vast nothingness. I added skiing to my list and the 1st day thought THIS is the feeling I dreamt of BUT the long skis were tricky and created small disasters. Years later I tried again but on short trick skis with great success…the sound of the ski shwoosh now watching the Olympics still brings back that amazing childhood feeling…
* There was the 4-day long-weekend route I mapped out to explore many places in NYC I had heard about. Alone. And loved it so much that I came back for a week
* to see plays (12 in all) which gave me insight on how one could comment on them. These included 1 Broadway play, several off-Broadway plays and with delight some off-off Broadway plays (these up 3 fights of stairs sitting on orange crates in an emptied out LR/DR…being 3 feet from the action including the top actor who was their mentor and worked hard. NOT to upstage them!…
* I returned a 3rd time, the week before xmas to see store windows and holiday cheer - flying back xmas eve to be with my dear husband. The flight ✈️ home was full of cheer and goodwill - the stewardess passing out individually wrapped small gifts to the passengers - pause now, please, to think about that!!!
* I started going on long bicycle rides - flatness being key to each route my husband helped find which made it possible to go 20 miles many times…
* I decided I would know I was well off if I could have flowers in the house almost year round - so I planted foolproof Spring bulbs, summertime rose bushes, and green onions for the winter. STEMS of flowers at the very least…
* My husband encouraged me to add bring part of a group show…
plus the many very small experiences filling up the effort of 42.
So you can see the wildest dream had some basis in possibility even while living “on a dime”… the lack of funds required a balance tipping majorly to initiative.
SO YOU MIGHT WELL ASK -Whaaat is the plan for 2024? I *would* do more of the same but really I want to find the smallest of small experiences and savor them in search their “largeness”.
(20)24 feels like the reverse complement to the importance of finding the question for the answer 42.
So I am starting a list today of QUESTIONS [24] to explore in the coming year:
*What does a Pandan waffle taste like?
[spoiler alert - I started with that one this morning - and found the answer at
*What is the perfect color(s) of my year/month/week/day?
*How long do dried rose petal leaves keep their original fragrance?
*What defines the core of “favorite” for me?…
*Make a collage once a week that expresses something about where I am at - may just conceptually. Then at the end of 2024 see what that storyline turned out to be…
This then is how it goes - making conversations with myself; maybe finding new depths through outer experiences.
Honestly, I’ve sloughed off the last 10 years, just living with myself on my personal laurels of previous years.
But ..24 triggered the excitement of opportunities that 42 had done…
I am looking forward to what surfaces…
What a fascinating mirrored symmetry!