100

A friend recently challenged me to make a list. She once read an article in Oprah magazine that advised women who are looking for love to create a list of the 100 things they are looking for in a life mate. My friend called her own list "eye opening and thought provoking."

I have yet to pick up a pencil to make my own list. I've been giving it some thought, though. You know how much I love my lists... and above all, I'm curious to see if I can actually find 100 things to put on there.

The first things that went through my mind are sort of the obvious ones:

• makes me laugh
• has a good job
• has financial security
• intelligent
• honest
• reliable
• gets along with my family

Then I started to wonder if I should make those a little more detailed. Take "intelligent," for example. Do I want to specify level of education? Is a masters degree a must? How picky am I allowed to be here? Realistically, if I met a man who had 99 out of the 100 qualities, I don't think I'd kick him to the curb because he only has a bachelor's degree. Or whatever. But since it's my list, I guess I should go for the ideal.

The next qualities that popped into my head were a little more frivolous:

• enjoys sports (preferably hockey and baseball, but football is okay, too)
• likes dogs
• wants to travel
• has similar (but not identical) taste in music

I questioned whether or not to put this stuff on the list. Is it too petty? These things aren't deal breakers, obviously. Then again, I have 100 spaces. I'm gonna have to fill them somehow.

And then there are the practical things:

• cooks
• helps with household chores
• is organized and responsible
• is good with kids (in case we have any of our own)
• can fix things/enjoys home repair projects
• wants to live within reasonable driving distance of Philadelphia (unless I fall in love with a man who lives in another state/country, in which case we'd have to discuss further)

You see how I automatically started qualifying and categorizing my choices? Typical of me. And honestly, I'm not sure I see the point in making a list like this. That's one thing my friend didn't mention. What do I do with this after I'm done? Stick it in my diary and forget about it? Is this something that I'm going to refer to later? Am I honestly going to pull this list out on a 5th date and start checking things off? Or maybe it's just for my own personal benefit. A tool to help me focus on the qualities that are important to me.

Anyway... I think I'm going to continue working on the list. I wanna see if I can get to 100. I think once I get past the obvious stuff, things are gonna get interesting.