Bucket List

June 19th, 2012

Do you have a bucket list?  Did you have one at 25?  Is it different than the one you have today?

I certainly didn’t have a bucket list at 25.  Heck, at 25, I was focused on the American  Dream — get an education, find a partner, get married, buy a house, have children!  I had no understanding of a ‘bucket list’ or the entertainment goals people set.  My parents were hard-working blue collar types — a bucket list item was being able to clothe and feed your family every month.

Here I am at 50, unmarried, no kids, and yes, I have a bucket list; although I didn’t call it a ‘bucket list’ until the 2007 movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

 

I love that movie. Love that it shows mature men taking risks to achieve dreams — now it does help that Jack Nicholson’s character is uber-wealthy.   What I love about his character is he finds joy in helping Morgan Freeman’s character fulfill his bucket list.  A bucket list the character had no idea was possible.

Yet, his greatest goal was desire was to be a good husband to his wife.   He thoroughly enjoyed each and every moment of his time with Jack Nicholson’s character yet he was clear about what mattered most — his middle-class life with the love of his life.

Isn’t that the best bucket list?  The one that lists big ticket items with small ticket items?  It seems like big ticket items STOP life (OMG! Climb Mt Everest?  You did!).  But don’t small ticket items MAKE life? (My cable guy is so nice and he asked me for coffee)

http://lesleycarter.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/2012-bucket-list-adventure-awaits/

I enjoy this blog.  This lovely writer has annual bucket lists that have big ticket and small ticket items … and it’s the small ticket items that touch me.    Yes!  Thank you for thinking “reading to your child” is important because you can do it 365 days versus flying an airplane/helicopter.

I have no delusions — I ain’t climbing Mt Everest; heck it’s highly unlikely I’ll climb Mt Baldy in California (outside of LA).  It’s the small ticket items I find myself focusing on (those and lower adrenline big ticket items!)

What about you?  Did you find your bucket list changing as you aged?  Are you risk-averse or risk-seeking?  I wish I were risk-seeking but truthfully I am more conservative in risk.  Again, zip-line in Costa Rica is not on my bucket list!

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