In Celebration of My Mom: 7 Before 70

Back in late April, I shared a long, personal post on my Facebook page. I’m not usually so personal on social media, but I was fueled by the nostalgia of my 30th birthday and a really strong, good drink at Safe House in Milwaukee. I was shocked at the responses to that post – and the positive reception of two more blog posts about finishing my 30 Before 30 goals and announcing my 40 Before 40 goals. An undercurrent in all of them is the support I’ve received from my family, especially my mom – “Momma V” – who has always been “in my corner” even when I haven’t been in my own corner.

One exciting about my relationship with my mom is that our birthdays are 30 years apart. We both get to embark on a new decade of life in the same year each time it happens. Today is Momma V’s 60th birthday!

To celebrate in my weird bloggy way, I asked my mom to share 7 goals she would like to accomplish before her next milestone birthday. (It feels super old to say “before she turns 70,” which I’m sure is even worse for Momma V!).

Momma V’s 7 Before 70 Goals:

I thought about asking my mom to create 70 goals, but honestly, that requires the kind of insane ambition that I have, and I asked her about 48 hours before I wanted to publish the post. Given that it took me about six months to write my 40 Before 40 list… I settled for 7 instead.

As she said, “Not in any particular order…”

1. Learn to ride a motorcycle
2. Have my first book published
3. Establish a habit of daily activity for a healthier life
4. Learn how to lay tile
5. Become debt free
6. Visit 5 states I have never visited
7. Take ballroom dancing lessons

Some of these are goals familiar to me after knowing my mom her whole life. I know how she has worked throughout her life to establish and maintain healthy exercise habits and become debt free. I’ve long wanted to buy her motorcycle lessons (though my own finances and other logistics have prevented it). I have even read some chapters from her [forthcoming] book.

Other goals, even in a short list, surprised me: learning how to lay tile, traveling more, and ballroom dancing lessons. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from reading other 30 Before 30/40 Before 40 lists too, it’s that we all have uniquely wonderful goals. Putting them to paper gives us the chance to cheer one another on and create structure to actually achieve them.

While I’m busy strategizing my own goals and cheering those of you on who’ve made your own 40 Before 40 lists, I’ll also be helping my mom achieve hers. After all, she’s helped me achieve many of my goals over the years – it seems like it’s time to return the favor.

Happy Birthday, Mom! Check Your Email…

(P.S. Unrelated, but the photos in this post were from a Flytographer shoot I bought for my parents a few years ago. You can browse destinations and sessions on the Flytographer website.)

Help others discover this post too!