I've had kind of a rough day. Just as I was leaving to get on a plane for Pueblo, Colorado, Ivey called me to say she was sick. I hate leaving her home alone sick, but did it. I am missing my induction as the Kiwanis President for the coming year and I got bad news that a dear dear friend and volunteer of the YWCA, Willa Lister, passed away today. I guess I was feeling sentimental. Here's what a three hour layover in a small airport will do for ya.
1. Build a sandcastle that takes more than one day to build with my grandchildren.
2. Give a complete stranger more than $100 on Christmas Day with a note that they are important and for them to share the love whenever they can in whatever way they can.
3. Celebrate New Year’s Eve in the big apple.
4. Take the Route 66 road trip.
5. To spend a month touring a foreign country with someone I love with no schedules to keep, reservations or agendas.
6. Ride a hot air balloon over the Grand Canyon.
7. Watch the sunrise in as many countries as I can. And photograph them all.
8. Write a children’s book and have my kids and grandchildren, perhaps, illustrate it.
9. Hook and reel in a shark larger than me.
10. Have a dinner party at my house complete with placecards, linens, multiple courses (that may or may not be prepared by me ;)) for enough people (and diversity of guests) to make the conversation interesting but still intimate.
11. Run in the Boston marathon (finishing is a secondary item).
12. Earn a seven figure amount of money so I can have the joy of giving it away.
13. Learn to play the guitar.
14. Play guitar around a campfire under the stars.
15. Snorkel in Australia, Greece, New Zealand.
16. Help a mother deliver a baby.
17. Go to the airport and take the next flight leaving. No matter where it is going. Enjoy a few days and get to know that place intimately.
18. Discover a way to bottle lingering smells for a bad day/moment/week that will stand the test of time. (Think your mother/father/grandmother/childhood home/lover/newborn baby/etc.)
19. Be able to pinpoint the difference I made in anothers’ life.
20. Give my mother and father a gift of appreciation that makes each of them proud of their work and really get who they are in the world.
21. Be positive that every single person in my life knows exactly what they mean to me.
22. Obtain a gift (donation not for me personally) for one million dollars from an individual.
23. Ski a black slope and live to tell about it.
24. Get my CFRE (certified fundraising executive) credential
25. Leave a trail of people in my life who are better off for having known me, if even for a short time, comic relief or feeling better about themselves.
26. Gracefully turn down a job offer and marriage proposal (not combined offers )
27. Finish my psychology degree
28. Learn to speak Spanish
29. For my kids to grow up and know they are loved unconditionally, not just by me, but by many, many people and that they can do or be anything they want and be loved because/for/in spite of it. For them to know they have the responsibility to make the world a better place in every way they can and for them to be proud to do that.
30. Perform in a community theater.
31. Learn to ballroom dance and have a go-to partner with whom to practice often.
32. Play at least a game of softball with my grandmother, father, Hunter and Ivey. A tournament or season would be that much better.
33. Swim with the stingrays and/or sharks.
34. Have artsy nude photos done.
35. Have grandchildren that light up when they see me or hear my name.
36. Make a stained glass window.
37. Sew a piece of clothing and wear it proudly.
38. Celebrate a 20th, 30th or even 50th wedding anniversary.
39. Enjoy a romantic evening under the stars at the Eiffel Tower.
40. Spend a week on a boat with no crew.
41. Experience Mardi Gras from Bourbon Street.
42. Build a piece of furniture with my hands.
43. Experience Olympic games in another country.
44. Spend a week on a beach in another country with 10-20 of my closest, dearest friends (Sam, Carrie--you said you like shout outs --this is yours!), exploring the local pubs, people, and seeing the world together.
45. Attend a world series final.
46. Give my friends and loved-ones enough silly stories to pull from so that when I am gone, they won’t cry at a stuffy funeral, but rather will gather together, tell stories and laugh until they cry and relive the joy we shared together.
47. Have a bubble blowing contest with kids I don’t know.
48. Spend a week with a family in another country who speak a different language.
49. Learn sign language.
50. Live and volunteer in another country for a year.
51. Enjoy holidays and special occasions as the kids grow and are grown with both of their parents (and presumably our new spouses).
52. Welcome home troops at the airport with gifts and let them know they are appreciated.
There are a few boring bucket list items I have left off because they are somewhat generic: I want to go so many places, Fiji, Greece, Italy, Jerusalem, Japan, Australia, the list goes on and on and on. Bungee jumping, sky diving, scuba diving, climb a mountain, leave a $200 tip on a $20 lunch to a pregnant waitress to name a few. If I think of more, I will add to. Please share yours with me!
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