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In preservation of our own stability and daily function, most of us go about our lives with the concept of mortality tucked safely away in the mind’s farthest corner. But is that always sage? Essex Junction poet Ruth Knox, this week’s bearer of inspiration, doesn’t believe in waiting for a midlife crisis or major brush with danger to begin ticking off the boxes of a happy existence here in Vermont.
18 before 18 (Vermont edition)
By Ruth Knox, 11, of Essex Junction
1. Play in the snow. (You’re a Vermonter – it’s a necessity.)
2. Climb a mountain and take in the beauty of the world.
3. Watch a sunset over Lake Champlain.
4. Eat a whole pint of Ben & Jerry’s! (Unless that’d make you sick.)
5. Watch the geese travel south for the winter.
6. Go camping! It’s even fun to go during thunderstorms sometimes.
7. Stop and smell the red clover. (That’s our state flower.)
8. Walk down Church Street in the middle of winter.
9. Find a good spot and take in the mountains of Vermont. Can you find Camel’s Hump?
10. Spend a full summer day outside just goofing off with friends.
11. Play outside after dark.
12. Go birdwatching. (That’s when you go into the woods and look for birds.)
13. Watch the clouds on a sunny day, lying on your back and looking for shapes.
14. Go swimming in a lake or big pond instead of a chlorine-y pool.
15. Take a run outside. It’s more fun if you bring a friend!
16. Go somewhere that taps and refines its own maple syrup. Try some!
17. Grab a creemee. (Did I spell that right?)
18. Do anything you think is fun. Whatever it is, make sure you enjoy it!
