Courtney Stone's Page

So, I started my list when I was 15 - 2002, I think? I wish I had a more romantic story to explain when/how I started it, but here it is: I was singing a song at church and had a cold or vocal issue of some sort, and I said (here it is- big moment, guys) "I sound like a dying cow". And then, I realized, I've never even heard a dying cow. I figured I ought to do that at some point, so I wrote it down. I kept writing down things I wanted to do as I thought of them and started showing it around to some friends. It was a fledgling idea at that point, but it kept growing.

On a missions trip down to Juarez, Mexico, I decided to entertain the 14 other people with me in the 15-passenger van with a rowdy round of life-goal sharing. One of the people in the van with me was Nathan Bell, a high school friend. I didn't know it until much later, but Nathan started his own list of things he wanted to do before he died.

In the summer of 2005, Nathan went on a backpacking trip with our church youth group. He'd been feeling ill throughout the trip; the leaders thought that he was suffering from altitude sickness. On the last day of the trip, Nathan collapsed and, although all possible efforts were made to revive him, didn't make it. By the time the paramedics made it back up the hill, he was already gone.

At his funeral, I heard for the first time that Nathan had created a list of his own. The goal mentioned from Nathan's list was "to outlive my parents (not out of spite, just to save them from any grief)". The fact that this, of all things, would make it onto a 17-year-olds life goal list testifies to Nathan's character. It's continually heartbreaking that he wasn't able to accomplish it.

I asked Nathan's younger brother to send me his list and made it my own goal to accomplish the ones that Nathan didn't have the time to complete. Together, there are 291 goals on our lists - I've completed around 50, I believe. I'm in it for the long run, though, both for Nathan and for myself.

In addition to that, if there are any goals on Nathan's list that you think you can accomplish in his name, please let me know. It's not about ME doing these goals, it's about keeping Nathan's memory alive and honoring the person that he was. I would truly love any help or support you could direct my way.

Courtney's Goals

1. Hear a dying cow.
2. See Rochelle get married.
3. Have a dog named Cat and a cat named Dog.
4. Purposefully see how long I can go without sleep
5. Write a newspaper article and have it published.
6. Be president of something (University Counseling Center Student Ambassadors, 12-2007)
7. Travel all over East Asia
8. Tip a cow (6-15-03, David’s keychain)
9. Go back to Europe and visit all the places I did before
10. Get a tattoo (my familial compass, October 2006)
11. Crochet a blanket (Aidan’s Christmas blanket 2006)
12. Design an outfit
13. Learn how to do a back flip
14. Be good enough at guitar to record my own EP
15. Be able to identify most trees, plants and animals
16. Paint something pretty
17. Go backpacking by myself
18. Have beautiful children
19. Be on a reality TV show
20. Love someone unconditionally
21. Learn the constellations
22. Organize a Battle of the Bands (July 20-21, 2003, July 18-19, 2004, AYC)
23. Raise my children in a foreign country
24. Become fluent in two languages
25. Get a B or above in Algebra II (May 23, 05)
26. Plant a flower and vegetable garden (April 03)
27. Pick fruit off a tree ( Grandma Lynne, 12-03-02)
28. See a liger or a tion
29. Tip another cow
30. Go through a corn maze (October 2006, Lizzie, Jeff and Chris)
31. Collect something (Rocks from different locations I’ve visited, ongoing)
32. Turn down a date with a movie star
33. Make a difference to a star fish
34. Meet someone named Landon Carter Knightly
35. Write a book
36. Be a backpacking guide
37. Tame a wild animal
38. Go from Colorado to Texas by horse
39. Go on a road trip with friends (May 13-21, 06; California with Jeff, Lizzie and Steve)
40. Go to In n’ Out (Cali family, 11-28-02)
41. Build an igloo (Grandpa, 3-03)
42. Join a mass snowball fight
43. Frolic through a meadow (Summer 2008, with Nattie)
44. Get a keychain from every country I visit
45. Strike someone out
46. Hold a tarantula (Summer 2007, Rosie at the Butterfly Pavillion!)
47. Eat a whole Chipotle burrito (2-8-03)
48. Cook a perfect thanksgiving dinner
49. Help someone fulfill a goal on their list (1-21-03, Jacintha)
50. See the Seven Wonders of the World (or the sites of them)
51. Climb the Great Wall of China
52. Dress up like Cinderella
53. Have dred-locks
54. Throw a spear
55. Let someone find treasure in my trash (Lizzie and I's quote book, 7/9/2009)
56. Make a newborn baby smile
57. Ride a bull
58. Write a hymn
59. Name my own Crayola color
60. Get mistaken for someone famous
61. Help someone take a dream trip
62. Hit a high E (home, 12-18-02)
63. Make someone’s day (Phil, 12-19-02)
64. Go on the biggest roller coaster in the world – Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey
65. “pull off” an article of clothing (12-12-02, Dad’s belt)
66. Have my own private library of more than 1000 books
67. Drive a forklift
68. Marry someone with green eyes
69. Memorize a book of the Bible
70. Write a perfect English paper (1-6-03)
71. Be given a bouquet of pressed flowers (12-25-02, Natalie)
72. Get out of a speeding ticket by crying
73. Take a bath in some kind of food (May 7, 2006; mashed potatoes! Thanks Jeff!)
74. Swim in a pool of kool-aid
75. Solve a mystery (May 28, 2009; The Case of the Missing Patio Table)
76. Tell someone how much they mean to me (Phil, 11-02)
77. Watch all the classics movies listed on Netflix
78. Eat absolutely nothing but Ramen for a week (June 14, 2009 - the summer house)
79. Learn how to play a song on the violin
80. Be in a play
81. Be serenaded (May 28, 2009; Ben - Bella Notte over the Poudre River with the ukulele)
82. Find out what makes people have their own smell (Timmy and Nate, 6-23-03, bacteria)
83. Hold a bat (the animal kind, people)
84. Get dipped by a tall, dark, and handsome man (Ben - the weekend, 8-17-2008)
85. Have someone tip their hat to me
86. Whittle something out of wood
87. Fly in a fighter plane
88. Read and own all the books on my reading list
89. Have a really big leaf collection
90. See the original Van Gogh’s “A Starry Night”
91. Give someone a shopping spree
92. Get into that weird yoga position I saw
93. Use a pick-up line on someone I don’t know
94. Own a Fabergé egg
95. Protest something
96. Shoot something
97. Get shot while wearing a bullet-proof vest
98. Keep my room totally clean for a week
99. Walk on a ceiling
100. Slide down a banister (1-18-03, Winter Retreat stairs)
101. Go see the Olympics in a foreign country
102. Get a genius store on one of those stupid peg games
103. Tell someone off (5-5-2009, A)
104. Prove a teacher wrong (1-30-03, Mrs. Jenson, Algebra II)
105. Jump off a bridge because my friends did
106. See my name up in lights (4-7-08, Ben at the Lyric)
107. Ride a skateboard
108. Skydive (Summer 2007)
109. Find a perfect daffodil growing in the wild
110. Patent something
111. Randomly go to a foreign country for a weekend
112. Discover something
113. Do a headstand in the church elevator, all the way up and down (12-19-02)
114. Touch an endangered animal
115. Go to a Chinese New Year’s celebration
116. Go to Mexico on Cinco de Mayo for my birthday
117. Pick grapes and make a glass of grape juice
118. Learn how to do that cat’s cradle thing
119. Shear a sheep
120. Go paragliding or ride in a hot air balloon
121. Decorate for Christmas in August
122. Learn how to read lips really well
123. Learn how to write my name on a piece of rice
124. Make a quilt (04-04, Toby’s baby blanket)
125. Own my own bookstore
126. Go into a submarine (Submarine off the Pier in San Francisco, March 2007)
127. Own a concept car
128. Be able to do 10 chin-ups
129. Find a rare book at a bookstore
130. Hug someone from behind bars
131. Build a dollhouse (Christmas 2008, with help from my papa!)
132. Have a hollowed-out book (sometime in 2006, “The Dictionary of Psychoanalytic Terms”)
133. Sweep a chimney
134. Chop down a tree with an axe
135. Buy a sword for my husband
136. Win a writing contest (5-2-03, HOPE)
137. Make a list of 1000 things that make me happy (09-10-04)
138. Break a horse
139. Be outside of the car during a drive-through car wash
140. Sew an entire outfit
141. Learn kung fu or some kind of cool marital arts thing…Ju Jitsu?
142. Find the end of a rainbow
143. Go skinny dipping in a mountain lake (6-18-03, Steamboat Springs)
144. Get a bulls eye in archery
145. Hit a homerun
146. Milk a cow
147. Pick a coconut
148. Climb to the top of Fish Creek Falls
149. Pick a bushel of berries
150. Be the only opponent in an otherwise unanimous vote
151. Write a children’s story book with Natalie
152. See the northern lights
153. Learn how to play the accordion
154. Make a kite
155. Direct a play
156. Meet an Egyptian prince or princess
157. Ride on a blimp
158. Free a caged dove (one that doesn’t fly back to it’s cage)
159. Spend part of my honeymoon at Grandpa’s lodge
160. Be able to peel an apple in one long string…peel…thing. (4-11-08, with Natalie)
161. Cut the head off a chicken
162. Randomly run through sprinkler’s a night with friends (08-27-05, Taylor)
163. Learn a traditional Indian rain dance
164. Be a train hobo
165. Start a slow clap that actually catches on
166. Have a really strange tan line
167. Receive a message in a bottle (5-2-2009, Derek for my birthday)
168. Be a scarer in a haunted house
169. Be a really hott barista
170. Ring church bells
171. See a solar eclipse
172. Have a zen garden (a real one, not the kind you have on your desk in an office)
173. Learn Braille
174. Have a book dedicated to me
175. See a shepherdess
176. Travel on the Transiberian Railroad
177. Sleep in hay for awhile
178. Go get tomatoes smashed in my face at La Tomatina
179. Complete all of the goals on Nathan’s list, or have someone else complete them and dedicate it to him (see attached)
180. Have a warrant out for my arrest
181. Step in a place where no one has stepped before
182. run a half-marathon (Boo to 26 miles!)
183. Hike the Appalachian Trail
184. Build a tree house
185. Go to a professional sporting event that my home team actually wins (Rockies vs. Braves [4 to 3] w/ Chuck and Sandy, 4-8-08)
186. Step on the turf at a professional sports stadium
187. ride an elephant
188. Go to a dog or horse race and win!
189. Own a (badass) motorcycle
190. Change the oil and brake pads on my car
191. Sing an Ella Fitzgerald song in a coffee shop or bar
192. Go to a nude beach without feeling self-conscious
193. Don't eat meat unless I'm comfortable with the source (ongoing)
194. Manage or create an NPO that moves people towards self-sustainability
195. Be car-less for a year (at least)


Nathan's Goals

1. Have a speaking line in a Hollywood movie
2. Get in a Delorean and drive 88 mph
3. Get a lead in a school play
4. Bungee Jump
5. Visit all 50 states
6. Do a stand-up comedy routine for a comedy club
7. Perform the “Who’s on First?” routine onstage
8. Act out a fast-food commercial in the corresponding restaurant
9. Convince someone over the phone that I really am Sean Connery
10. Record a professional album with my band
11. Record a song with me playing every instrument
12. Help someone else complete one of their life goals
13. Get my Eagle Scout (Summer 2005, Nathan)
14. Shave my head entirely bald
15. Watch all six Star Wars movies in order in one sitting.
16. Return to Disneyland
17. Win a radio contest or mail-in sweepstakes
18. Win something other than free food in a fast food peel-off game
19. Endorse a product on a TV commercial
20. Guest star on a TV show
21. Lead someone to Christ
22. Write a book
23. Go White Water Rafting (June 20, 2009; Buena Vista with the Vet Students)
24. Get married
25. Have children
26. Visit all 50 state Capitals
27. Graduate High School (May 2005, Nathan)
28. Earn a College Degree (May 15, 2009, BASW from CSU)
29. Host a talk show
30. Perform on Broadway
31. Write a musical entirely of parodied songs from other musicals
32. Become fluent in French
33. Grow a full beard
34. Vote in a national election (October 2008, Yay Obama!)
35. Campaign for a political office
36. Stay “Alive at 25”
37. Remain a virgin until marriage
38. Stop biting my cuticles
39. Receive no speeding tickets
40. Return to New York City
41. Become financially independent
42. Host Saturday Night Live
43. Move away from home (August 2005, Courtney)
44. Take snowboarding lessons
45. Mission trip to a third world country
46. Have dinner with a famous person
47. Do something completely selfless for someone else
48. Visit the Amazon Rain Forest
49. Visit the African Serengeti
50. Visit the British Isles
51. Take a trip to New Zealand and attempt to find “Lord of the Rings” filming locations
52. Visit Australia
53. Visit the sites of the seven wonders of the ancient world
54. Visit the seven wonders of the natural world
55. Visit Stonehenge
56. Try escargots (4-25-08, Courtney and Liz at the Savoy)
57. Own every Beatles Album on CD
58. Watch all three Lord of the Rings films in a row
59. Visit Antarctica
60. Visit the Congo
61. Visit the Great Wall of China
62. Camp in a snow structure
63. Adapt a novel into a screenplay
64. See the Terra Cotta Warriors Tomb in China
65. Direct a professional music video
66. Develop a concept for a video game
67. Learn a third language
68. See all films that have won Best Picture Oscars
69. Attend the Academy Awards
70. Meet Johnny Depp
71. Retire comfortably
72. Take a dance course
73. Outlive my parents (not out of spite, just to save them any grief)
74. Begin exercising daily
75. Begin daily devotionals
76. Begin praying daily (besides meals)
77. Attempt the Beau Jo’s 2-man giant pizza challenge
78. Set a Guinness World Record
79. Design a board game and present it to a game corporation
80. Participate in a protest rally
81. finish an assignment (work or school) at least a week before its due date (Learning Plan at RAL, January 2009)
82. Tell someone how much I love them
83. Sing a solo song in front of an audience not as a part of a theater production
84. Go hunting and successfully shoot an animal
85. Eat a habeñero pepper
86. Have an article published in a national newspaper or magazine
87. Debunk a popular theory or myth
88. Find evidence supporting a popular theory or myth
89. Visit Loch Ness
90. Hold my breath through the Eisenhower tunnel (Summer 2006, Courtney and Jeff)
91. Visit Jerusalem
92. Create a hedge or corn maze
93. Prepare and take a meal to the homeless
94. Hike barefoot (July 4th, 2006, Courtney)
95. Pay a highway toll for the person behind me
96. Have Italian food in Italy
97. Drink a glass of Port Wine in the House of Port in Spain
98. Design a one-piece garment for men suitable for formal occasions (It’s really not quite fair that women can wear simply a dress, when men wear tuxedoes that involve many parts and pieces.)
99. Enter a food-preparation contest
100. Meet the current US president