This is the bucket where I keep my list.
Apparently, everybody is now supposed to have a “bucket list”. I constantly hear people talking about theirs, and asking me about mine.
Let me just see if I understand this correctly. As a happy, well-adjusted adult in the prime of life, I am supposed to create a list of things I’d like to accomplish and enjoy before I (ahem) “kick the bucket”. Right?
OK. I get the general idea. Don’t just sit back and wait for adventure, blah-blah. Grab for all the gusto, yada-yada.
I’m on board with all that. Really! I absolutely believe that we make our own happiness, and that we all need to live our lives fully and richly. We need to pursue our dreams.
I get it!
But here’s what I just don’t get.
Why does everybody seem to think that every item on my “bucket list” is supposed to scare the hell out of me? Why do all the lists I see involve things like ziplining in the Amazon forest, or jumping out of an airplane? I’ve read some of those “bucket list” blogs and articles!
People are doing things like riding every roller coaster in the country! Or break dancing in the middle of Central Park!
That kind of thing is not exactly me. You know? In fact, that kind of thing is the kind of thing that makes me run screaming into the night.
Sometimes an opportunity to do something dangerous exciting comes up in my life, and friends start chirping “bucket list”! And I start shaking my head and backing out the door, saying “nope, uh-uh, no way, not me”.
And then I feel like a wimp. Or worse, I feel like someone who doesn’t fully appreciate the richness of life.
But I do!
And I do have my own little “bucket list”. Its just that mine is….well…on the tame side.
Some time in my life, before I die, I want to live right on the beach. I want to walk the shore at dawn, when everything is silent and calm. I want to sit on my deck and watch a full moon rise over the open sea.
Before I leave this life, I want to take my grandchildren to Disney. I want to ride on Dumbo the Elephant again, and spin in the teacups and eat ice cream at Epcot. I want to watch the neon lights of the Main Street Parade while holding the hand of a toddler.
On my bucket list I have items like swimming in a lake with my dogs, off of any leashes. Things like growing a successful eggplant or singing the Hallelujah Chorus without looking at the music.
I know. These things are a little simple, a little dull.
But my bucket list is peaceful. And it is mine.
People may shake their heads and shrug their shoulders at me, but I don’t care. My bucket is filled with activities that won’t cause me to kick it, and that’s what really counts!
Empty Nest, Full Life 
I’m with you – and if I had written this I would have altered the following phrase slightly. instead of “mine is….well…on the tame side” I would have “tame” struck through and sane inserted after it.
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Ha! I love it!
Do you have the same experience, though? Everyone is always talking “bucket list” and mine just involves a day at the beach and a glass of prosecco……..
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The short answer is hmmm, not really the same, no. I travel in a very small circle of non-risk takers, I guess!
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Well said! I have no desire to ride the tallest roller coaster or to shock myself into a cardiac scare, but somehow, I have always been convinced that my bucket list should be about getting out of my comfort zone……so I have never made a bucket list! But your bucket list sounds perfect! You’ve made me rethink the idea! I may just see you on the beach!
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Fabulous!
I understand the whole “comfort zone” thing, but there is a big part of me that keeps thinking “I’m getting old! I WANT my comfort zone!”
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You and me both! Great post!!
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I’m definitely with you. Not being an adrenaline junkie, my list is very tame. I want to see a variety of National Parks, train a seeing eye dog, and volunteer for the USO amongst other boring things. Love this post. 🙂
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Oh, what lovely ideas you have! I think I’ll add the National Parks to my list, too! But I will stroll, camp, photograph and observe. No climbing rock walls or glaciers for me!
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I, too, am with you. I have rarely been wild, and all those things folks put on THEIR lists would, ummm, hasten the inevitable — painfully — should I attempt them. Nope, not me. I would like to go back to Italy and stay in really nice hotels, though.
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oooh, nice bucket list, Elyse….Can I come?
I want to add a few items, too:
Watch a sunset in Sicily.
Eat fresh seafood in Greece.
Pick jasmine in Tunisia.
sigh.
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You are phenomenal at capturing the young spirit .., I was with you on both ends …
>
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Thanks, Maureen! comes from spending all day with kids, I guess!
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I loved reading this! It’s the little things that add up to a pretty great life.
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Oh, I agree!
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Careful on those Teacups. I used to be able to EAT while on those rides, now I get very sick. Stick to the neon lights on Main Street.
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Ah, but part of what I want to recapture is that spinny feeling (and not from vertigo)! That’s about as exciting as I’m willing to get at this point!
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I agree. And I’m with Elyse on wanting to stay at a nice hotel in Italy. I could die a happy woman then.
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OK, so let’s all go! Talk about a bucket list item……
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I love it! I feel the same way. My bucket list isn’t very scary or dangerous either, but more things I want to experience or accomplish. I guess my bucket list is more of a list of goals than anything else. And someday when you have that house on the beach, I’d love to come and take a walk with you.
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You’ll be welcome at my beach house any time!
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