Bucket List

Eight to ten years ago, I created my bucket list.  The list only included things I felt I could really accomplish.  I would mentioned a few things on the list now and then but didn't share it totally with anyone, not even Mark as some I just wanted to happen...  emotional or spiritual things than accomplishments.  A few were places I wanted to visit, a few things to do, things like that.  One was to finish my quilt I had started and when we moved, I threw it away.  I couldn't do it, I didn't want to do it, I was done with that project and I don't regret it.  That was a good one, a good feeling to be able to let it go.  As I marked things off my list and it got shorter, I added more.
When my father was dying (he was only 61) he had to move into our home and so we set him up in his own room and I tried real hard to make his last days as pleasant as they could be.  I believe they were.  I'd get up every morning and WHATEVER he wanted for breakfast, I would go get or make.  He couldn't eat it, but he wanted it and I felt he should have what he desired.   He asked that we sell his last remaining personal items and to set up his music station so he could listen to all his CD's one last time.  After the garage sale, I took the money to him and asked what CD's he would like and he said none.  He was just about finished with all of them and he was happy.  So, each day, I would plug in his headphones and he would do his music.  In just a few days, he had finished them all.  Then the Braves made the World Series and he looked at me and said "I am a happy man!"  He died that night. True story... he finished his CD collection and the Braves were going to the World Series.
So back to my bucket list.... I don't want the list to run out!  I continue to add things that I truly want to do.  I want to go fly fishing. I  want to stand in the stream, the sun shining down on me and enjoy the peaceful sound of water and try to learn that style of fishing.  I want to go to Niagara Falls.  I want to go on a sleigh ride and tap a maple tree.  I want to play the cello.  There are more, but for me, writing down what I want to do, to accomplish and to experience has direction, a purpose and gives me focus.  The list morphs and grows, and as it does, I feel good about the things that have been marked off and the things I add.
So today, what's on your list?  If you don't have one, start one, write it down, start thinking about your dreams, your hopes but also the things you have done.  And when you do, I believe you will find interesting things about yourself you may not have known, you will also see growth in your life as you start to put a value to what you want and what you need.