Top 100

Tomorrow (Thursday) is our last day of actual "work" at school before Christmas break (on Friday, we're having parties, etc). I was going to do something else, but I'm making a last-minute change to the lesson plan. I found an article on Cosmopolitan.com that I'm going to share with the kids--and with you. And then we're going to create our own Life Lists. (I got the idea when I read a post from a student who said she had done it in HER English class; I won't make them do 100, though. Maybe 25 or 30.)

As we come to the end of another year, it's generally the time for personal reflection, etc. Instead of making New Year's Resolution, I'm making some Life Resolutions. Feel free to join me.

The Life List You Must Write
BY MOLLY TRIFFIN

"I'm not proud of everything I've done, but I have no regrets," Ann once said.

Five years after Ann Nelson's death on September 11, she's still an amazing inspiration. Here's why.

When Ann Nelson decided to learn to cook, she didn't start with a simple meal: Her first culinary endeavor was Thanksgiving dinner. Although the turkey was done at midnight, it tasted delicious and everyone had a blast. In January 2001, the 30-year-old from Stanley, North Dakota, achieved another impressive feat: She relocated to Manhattan from Chicago. "One Monday, she called and said, 'Leenie, I just accepted a job in New York.... I'll be flying out tomorrow,' " remembers her friend Eileen Swartout. "I could hear the tingle of anticipation in her voice.... She was beginning a new adventure."

Adventure was something Ann often sought out, from whizzing down mountains on Colorado ski trips to traveling solo in Peru. Once in New York, she rented an apartment in the hip SoHo area, where her boyfriend, Eric Lockovitch, and their 130-pound Newfoundland, Newman, visited her.

But on September 11, 2001, Ann's jampacked life came to a halt — she was working as a bond broker on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center. This past March, Ann's mom, Jenette, opened a file on Ann's laptop called Top 100, revealing an incomplete list of goals her daughter had hoped to accomplish. That list, printed here, may very well motivate you to start your own Top 100 — and live by it.

View Ann's list here (you'll have to copy and paste the whole link instead of just clicking it, since it stretches to two lines):
http://magazines.ivillage.com/cosmopolitan/connect/articles/
0,,284420_705638,00.html