Detoured: Hong Kong: Making It Count

Scribbled on a page of my notebook is my Hong Kong bucket list. A list of stuff that I jotted down this past July of all the things I wanted to experience before December's departure. My catalog of stuff I had heard about, stuff I wanted to do again, stuff I want to do bigger and better the second time around. The list isn't that long really and it has stuff that's big and stuff that's not so big. So, I started to check off those things I've accomplished and when I was done, only five items remain.

Call it vanity or whatever, but I'm proud of myself. So very proud! Because so many people come here and do nothing, nothing at all. They are turned off by the unfamiliar, afraid of the adventure, so it's just easier to slip on a pair of yoga pants and complain. But I tried to do everything, everything I could so that when I went home I would never look back at this time as wasted time. Now, that doesn't mean that I don't have my days where I've just had it. I'm pissed about waiting for a taxi in the rain, annoyed at the Chinese mainlanders touching my children's faces, disgusted when somebody spits on the sidewalk in front of me, and throwing the mother of all hissy fits when I find out my shipping allowance is way over. But when those moments pass, and they are just moments, I do look around acknowledge an experience that has been a blessing. An opportunity not everybody gets. You get handed a situation and you can either let it get the best of you or you can make the best of it. It's all about making it count, right, Jack Daswson?

Check out my bucket list, some with photos, some without.

1. Great Wall of China