Tag: bucket list

Revised Bucket List

On and off recently, I’ve seen a similar meme that says something to the effect of “someone mentioned 30 years ago, and I immediately thought of the 70s. Someone else mentioned that 30 years ago was the 90s – and now I need a nap.” Talk about a meme that hits the nail perfectly on the head on the first strike!

When I saw it recently, not only did it elicit the usual groan when I see it, it also suddenly stirred in my brain that my bucket list is also 30+ years old since I really put some time and thought into it. When I dug it up, I realized I needed to spend that nap time amending what has become information and ideas that were severely antiquated! And what better time than the start of a new calendar year!

There are travels on ye olde bucket list that will 99.99999999% never be brought to fruition (that one little tidbit remains to remind me that miracles do happen). Due to health conditions first and foremost, an Alaska cruise, traipsing through the green fields of Ireland or practicing saying “Good Day” and “How’re you going?” in Australia are not in my future.

There are only 2 items from my original bucket list that I want to bring to this amended list. First, I want to take a hot air balloon ride. Well, actually 2 of them, one at sunrise and one at sunset. If I have to, I’ll make those trips along with strangers, but in an ideal world, I would choose with whom I would be riding so that it means strangers wouldn’t be able to change the memory with their words/actions/etc. And while I would choose from family and friends, I would carefully choose those whose personality and perspectives would align in a way that it would become an equally awesome and memorable event for each and all of us. Oh, and to be able to take a hot air balloon ride over Niagara Falls would be more than I could hope for!!!

The second thing I’m bringing forward from the original list is to pet a giraffe. I don’t know why this is something worthy of my bucket list or why it’s something important to me. As I think about it while writing this, I visualize, as always, that my hand is stroking downward repeatedly along the giraffe’s neck. My subconscious is stepping forward at the moment to wonder if it is because I equate touches to the neck to send a positive emotion and giraffes don’t get that opportunity. If I thought I had a serious chance of doing this, I’d probably put much more thought into what and why is behind this want.

New to the list, though it’s been roaming around in my head for a while now, is to tour a recycling facility. As my loyal readers know, I’m somewhat obsessed with recycling, often going above and beyond to not only recycle when it’s easy, but to go some extra steps to enhance my recycling. The extra steps I make and take are based on wanting to make an item I recycle have the best chance to be recycled. An example is this: Every tissue box has a thin plastic covering over the spot from where the tissues are dispensed to provide extra cleanliness. The cardboard from which the box is made is recyclable. The plastic piece is not. If you throw an empty tissue box into your recycling container with that plastic still attached, the whole box becomes discarded as non-recyclable.

A completely new add to my bucket list is that I would like to ride along on a float in one of the big holiday parades. I’m talking about one of those huge, televised parades, not some small hometown one. I’m content to just be standing along either side, from front to back of the entire float and my job will be to smile and wave, making eye contact whenever possible. I may be a senior citizen, but if any person on a float made eye contact specifically and waved specifically to me, I’d think I would feel really proud! The idea of bringing that kind of excitement to others makes me get warm and fuzzy just imagining it.

That’s all that’s on my bucket list, quite a short one by many people’s standards. There are more things I’d like to happen, like meeting certain celebrities (ones I choose) and I’d love to once again participate in a Christmas cantata in a church on Christmas Eve. I’d like to attend hockey games in person as much as I wanted. And boy, I’d really like to have friends who like to do what I like to do so that shared memories can be made. But… if I have to do them alone, then so-be-it.

So if anyone out there wants to do any of these things, please hit me up!

My Revised Bucket List

As I’ve become older, it’s become obvious to me that there are things that have been on my “bucket list” for a really long time which I can no longer, under present circumstance and financial means, see ever come true. For a long time, my bucket list has included taking an Alaskan cruise, visiting either Australia or New Zealand and visiting Ireland.

Besides these travels, my bucket list also includes taking a hot air balloon ride and bungee jumping.

But driving home recently after having had the pleasure of seeing Phil Vassar perform live AND being part of his ‘meet and greet’ afterwards, which included both a hug and a photo with him, I started thinking that my bucket list needs modification. Maybe not modified so much, as I wouldn’t delete any of the things already on it, but added to in order to reflect some more attainable things that I enjoy.

I’ve had opportunities over the past two years to see some small-venue stage productions, and have found that I enjoy this ambiance much more than large productions. There is a sense of being invited into the unfolding story that you get in a small venue. The actors and actresses are local or regional talent, and each performs for the love of performing rather than for the dollars they earn. Acting is in their blood and it’s a passion to continue, even though it will never make them rich and famous. So I need to add “See small-venue plays” whenever possible.

And, although Phil Vassar is a well-known country music star, seeing him at a small venue was definitely different than seeing him as part of a mass audience. I do enjoy country music concerts and have only been to one with which I was disappointed because the “star” entertained the crowd but did nothing to engage the crowd. Come on, even if you’re up in the nose-bleed section, you want to see the entertainer react with the crowd! So, I’m adding “See more country music concerts” to my bucket list. And, to be honest, I’m no longer “up” on today’s newest stars, so seeing the oldies but goodies – more than once – will be what I’m looking for.

I’ve never been an avid fan of going to the movies, but I’ve done it a few times with my bestie, picking out shows that are primarily humorous chick-flicks because we’re both sure to like them. It’s fun to go to the movies with someone so you can talk about the movie after you’ve seen it. But the past several months there have been a couple of movies I would have enjoyed seeing, albeit that my bestie’s schedule is far more crowded and complicated than mine. So, I’m adding “See more movies” to my bucket list, reminding myself that it’s perfect OKAY to go alone, especially to a matinee.

I’m sure I will think of or discover more things to add to my bucket list. I just need to be conscious that I’m no longer some young person who has a world of time in front of me to do things I enjoy doing. I also need to get over this idea that I can’t do these things on my own, because I can, even if it’s not my preference. I’m not ready to go on a bona-fide vacation by myself, because I want to be able to share those moments and memories with someone else. But it is time to get out and do/discover things while my health still allows me to.

Remember, at the end, we don’t regret the things we’ve done, only the things we didn’t. So, revise your own bucket list by adding some attainable goals and get out there!