One down, 39 to go

I mailed my Be the Match registration kit back today, which means that I can officially cross #40 off my 40 by 40 list! (Coincidentally, our friend's daughter came home from the hospital today, as she is thankfully responding well to chemo.) If you're interested in joining too, remember you still have until June 22 to join for FREE!

What to do next? Well, obviously there's Hawaii (#4), which I fully intend to book this summer for travel this winter, although we won't be there over Christmas (#32)...I think we'll have to spend the following Christmas in Key West, eating key lime pie (#25). I was thinking that if I sent everyone a postcard from Key West, that could count as the year that I gave everyone homemade gifts (#24), but my husband informed me that unless I make the postcards, it won't count. So much for killing three birds with one stone. 

Perhaps I should start planning my Thanksgiving trip to Las Vegas (#3 and #16), where I'm pretty sure I could also accomplish #17...

Be the Match

Our friend's daughter was diagnosed with leukemia last weekend. She is seven. 

In addition to the flood of emotion it brought, the news of her diagnosis reminded me that I had once vowed to join the bone marrow registry. That was probably the last time I heard about a child with leukemia. And then I forgot and didn't do it. 

But I won't forget again because I added it to my 40 by 40 list. It replaced "Take the boys to the Galapagos Islands." (Have you ever priced such a trip? It's $20k, easy. I don't like nature that much.) 

Then I went to the Be the Match site and requested the kit to join. But I'm not telling you this to pat myself on the back, I'm telling you because when I went to the site, I found out that although it usually costs money to join, right now through June 22, it's FREE. 

That, my friends, is a sign.