Have You Made Your 'Bucket List'?

Over the years, I've made all kinds of lists. Christmas wish lists, lists of favorite songs, lists of boys I wanted to date, lists of boys I wish I'd never dated, and even a "Freebie" list. If you've seen the television show, Friends, you know what I'm talking about. Currently, that particular list consists of Daniel Craig, Christian Bale and Alexander Skarsgard; 007, Batman and Eric, a thousand year old vampire. Other lists have been things I've wanted to accomplish at varying stages of my life. When I was twenty, number one on my list was to sing on a Broadway stage. Well, I didn't perform in front of an audience, but I did stand on a NYC stage and belt out a few bars. When I was thirty, number one was to start a family. Checked that one off two years later. When I turned forty, a new name appeared for my list. The movie, "The Bucket List" had come out the previous year. Was I really that old to be of the mindset that I was making a list of things I wanted to accomplish or see happen before I died?

I remember sitting on my bed with my journal in my lap. I turned to the back page and wrote in block letters, BUCKET LIST. With all of the packing and unpacking over the past few years, I cannot for the life of me find that journal, but I do remember at least half of my listed items. I also remember writing "in no specific order". That particular item seemed important at the time...not sure why. My thought process was probably something like, "As long as it gets checked off before I die, it doesn't matter if it's first or last". A couple are rather high aspirations, I won't go as far as to say they're pipedreams, but they're close. The rest are attainable in my opinion. In fact, I've already checked off four.

Sing with my daughter(s)- that occurred three years ago, when Katie and I sang together at church for Mother's Day.

Visit a foreign country- I did one better, I moved to a foreign country and have visited a few more.

Learn a new language- Trying desperately to learn Chinese, and am also picking up tidbits of German, and remembering lots of Spanish and French due to the smorgasbord of expat friends.

Stand on the Great Wall with my family - Not sure why I picked that particular Seven Wonder even before we knew we were moving to China, but it was kind of fortuitous. I got all emotional when our friend took a picture of our family at the entrance to the Great Wall, consciously aware another check was going to be made. (More to come about this experience!)

The rest will remain private. Private, that is, until I can check them off as well.