Brett’s Life List

Brett’s abandoned teenage ambitions become a yearlong challenge that redirects her from inherited status toward a life she chooses for herself.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The List Resurfaces

An Unexpected Inheritance The challenge Brad Midar shows Brett Bohlinger the life list Elizabeth Bohlinger rescued from her teenage wastebasket. Ten goals remain, and Elizabeth has made their completion the condition for Brett to receive her inheritance. A year to change The list feels less like a gift than a demand: it includes a baby, a dog, a horse, teaching, and love. Brett initially rejects the idea that her younger self could know what her adult life needs.

A Deadline Takes Shape

Time Is Limited Terms of the challenge Brad explains that Brett must complete at least one goal by the end of September and finish all ten within a year. The deadline makes her grief and confusion feel like a race she did not choose. The old self returns With no executive job and no inheritance in hand, Brett starts considering which goals might be manageable. The list begins to expose how much of her life has been organized around avoiding risk and preserving comfort.

Fear Takes the Stage

A Public Test The performance Brett attempts an amateur stand-up routine at Third Coast Comedy, armed with note cards and memories from Catholic school. The audience responds poorly, and she nearly flees before Brad urges her to finish. Courage without success The performance is not a comic triumph, but Brett stays onstage until the time is up. Elizabeth’s letter reframes the attempt as evidence of courage rather than proof that Brett has failed.

Work Finds Its Fit

A Different Classroom A false start Brett’s brief substitute assignment at Douglas J. Keyes Elementary collapses into classroom disorder, confirming her fear that teaching may be beyond her. Instead of ending the goal, the failure sends her toward another form of instruction. Homebound teaching She takes a homebound teaching position with Chicago Public Schools and discovers that individual attention suits her better than managing a crowded room. The work connects her to students whose circumstances broaden her sense of what a teacher can do.

A Chosen Future

Goals Become Choices More than a checklist Brett adopts Austin Elizabeth, rebuilds family ties, and begins to understand that the goals matter because they restore her agency, not because they unlock money. Several ambitions become real through unexpected relationships and acts of care. An unfinished demand She refuses to claim she is in love simply to complete the list. By the ending, she accepts that her future need not be forced to meet Elizabeth’s timetable; the goals have helped her choose honestly, even when the list remains incomplete.

At the estate meeting in mid-September

Later that September

Late September at Third Coast Comedy

October through the following winter

From Austin’s birth through the novel’s closing year