Before you get old and boring....

Ok, so... I've had a lot of solo driving time lately which means one thing.. Lots of time to think. Among this thinking time, I got to reminiscing about the last few years and how incredibly blessed I have been. And I realized something... I have been fortunate enough to do things that most people would never either do or even think about doing. So, without any more hesitation, here's 10 things I think every person should do before turning 25, in no particular order. (Why 25? I don't know. It just seems like things get boring and real world-ish after that.)

1) Go Skydiving.

It will be worth every penny and every ounce of fear that is squeezed out of you. I promise.

2) Take a (super) spontaneous road trip.

And by this, I mean like... Get in the car with a friend or two and start driving in one direction without any plan at all. Some of my best memories have come from one of these.

3) See your favorite band play outdoors in the pouring rain.

You need a little luck with this one... But if it happens, its INCREDIBLE.

4) Take someone to watch a meteor shower.

Find someone that has never been, find a dark road, and just do it.

5) Dress up like rock stars for a night.

If you look cool enough, and carry instruments... people (specifically pre-teens) will think you are the coolest band ever. (this is a wonderful confidence booster)

6) Make a music video.

If you have a computer with a camera on it, that's good enough. You'll be glad you have this later in life.

7) Attend a Hispanic wedding.

At least go to the reception. The salsa dancing gets pretty crazy.

8) Camp next to a waterfall.

This leads perfectly into my next point..

9) Swim out to an island in the middle of the night to camp.

This will be a memory that will last a lifetime. Especially if, instead of a boat, you use a blow-up queen size air mattress.

10) See Celine Dion in concert.

I'm not saying... I'm just saying.

B

Life is very puzzling...

You know that feeling when you start a puzzle? The pieces scatter to cover the table and it's almost overwhelming to think that each of those individual pieces fits into the bigger picture somehow. You pick up that first piece, take a deep breath, and try to figure out where to start. What's really odd is, if you pick up a piece and look at it, it seems so insignificant. It's just a tiny little piece of cardboard with some indistinguishable marking on it. I mean let's be honest... There's thousands of them there. When they are all mixed up like this you would NEVER be able to tell if one was missing. But when they all come together to make this beautiful and perfectly fitting creation... The only one that is missing is the only one that you will notice.

This exact thought absolutely, 100% TERRIFIES me to think about. Because I feel like in my life right now, there's a million pieces in front of me, and I see them forming every day. Everything from seemingly random encounters with someone I had never met before, to a seemingly sub-par change of summer plans, to a series of “coincidental” conversations with an old friend. It's like I can see that these things are happening for a reason and I feel that they will be vital in big picture... But at this point they kind of look like, well, random little pieces of cardboard.

What really kills me is to think about what pieces have already gotten knocked off the table. What important friendship did I sell short because of my own selfish reasons? Who did I leave out of my life because I didn't see them as beneficial? Who did I let get lost in the mix because, at the time, they didn't perfectly fit into my puzzle?

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is the fact that so many perfectly ordained and coordinated things happen to us every day, and we have an undeniable tendency to write them off as an insignificant coincidence. When, in reality, these insignificant coincidences could very well be key pieces of our own puzzle.

B

P.S. I apologize for the horrific pun in the title.