The *last* thing I want to do is lay in my bed at the hospice care center, read over this list, and feel ashamed of myself for not ticking off every item. There are things I want to do. I can't exactly refer to them as an Epic Quest, either, because most of them involve home. I know... THIS IS HOW I BEAT THE GAME: --Own a home. Purchase date, sometime in 2017. I am saving $200/month that I am not allowing myself to see or touch. Tax returns go to savings, too. Once I pay off my debts, those payments will go immediately into savings as well. --Go to Australia. In the alternate version of my life where I can do anything I want, I'd live there. In real life, with a daughter whose father will never leave Colorado, and a boyfriend who'd only move if he could go back to Brooklyn, and a job and (soon) a house and a twin bro who only jokes about running away to Australia with me...it's not happening. But I'll visit, and I'll stay for a long time. --Retire. Seriously. Only two people in my family have ever retired. The others went on disability or unemployment. I'm the only 31-year-old I know who puts more than 10% of my check in my 401K. --Be someone my daughter can take seriously. I never want her to take care of me. I want her to learn from me, to lean on me, to want me around...I do not want to cause her stress. I do not want to make her life more difficult. So, that's it. When I can chill out all day in my own home, look at all the pictures of kangaroos and koalas and gum trees that I took on my trip to Australia, then give my daughter some good advice and a little money to treat herself to something awesome...I'll know I've won. There are other things I'd like to do, of course. I'd like to go to Scandinavia. I'd like to marry my boyfriend, eventually. (We're just starting out--it's only been a year and change) I'd like to have a clean and beautifully-decorated home. I'd like to plant a flower garden so awesome that strangers compliment me on it. There are so many other things, too...but I don't want to set them in stone. If I never visit Europe because I've taken ten trips to Australia, I don't want to feel like a failure. If I never have nice things because I always have destructive pets, I'm sure the pets will thank me and I'll have some wonderful friends in my life. Of course I can't put a marriage on the list, because I'm not the only one who decides that! I wouldn't put my happiness and my sense of accomplishment into another's hands, even another who I love and trust. I have many wants. They're my minigames. But if I can own a home, go to Australia, retire, and be a helpful and loving presence in my daughter's life until I die, I'll win. And even if I don't win, I'll be glad I got to play.