Bucket List was a great movie, but since the movie, we are bombarded with the phrase, which now makes the term “cliché”. Like anything cliché, it becomes tiresome, boring…cliché. Everyone now has a bucket list.
I have always had a list. I just never put it in a bucket.
For those of you who have not seen the movie, or have heard the expression, but smile with understanding when you hear it, even though you don’t know what it means. Yes, I know, you don’t want to feel left out. Two men from different stations in society survive cancer, but know they may not survive a relapse. Therefore, they embark on a journey to do all the things they always wanted to do before they die.
Before they kick the “bucket”, i.e., Bucket List.
It’s a great movie; see it. You will laugh and cry.
However, must we face death before we create a list? Why do we wait until it’s almost too late to pursue adventures?
As I said a few lines ago, my list doesn’t go in a bucket. I have always had one. It is not likely I will end up in a hospital room with a millionaire to fund those things yet unattained. Nor will I win the lottery. Even if I played.
My list may never be completed.
But I refuse to put it in a bucket!
It has been there since the beginning of time. At the very least, since my earliest memories. I see something cool on TV, or read about it in a book, and it goes on my list. Some of those things I suspended because of the situation in my life. Skydiving would be one. Though skydiving accidents are rare, it would have been irresponsible to be that one accident, and leave my kids without a provider.
The kids have grown; skydiving is back on the list. Not just skydiving, but winged skydiving, and maybe even board skydiving.
My list just grows, because so few things are checked off. Most of it is because I just cannot afford it. As my station in life continues to improve, I will check more off. A benefit of sans kids.
As a youth, I pictured myself much further ahead in life than I am now. Nevertheless, life happens, it doesn’t give us “Do overs” and we have set backs. Some of those setbacks last twenty years. I could have wadded up my list a long time ago. Abandoned my dreams, and planted my ass on the couch and spent the latter half of my life drinking beer while watching Big Bang Theory reruns.
At times, I may have scratched some things off the list, only later to erase it and re-add them.
Yet, I never gave up on the list. However, I am guilty of occasionally planting my ass on the couch and watching Big Bang Theory reruns. Even may have sucked down a few beers while doing so. But it was a short respite from my list.
We never know when we are going to kick the bucket. It is not likely a piano will fall on your head tomorrow, but great lives do come to sudden and tragic ends. Why do we need to worry about what we are going to do before we die? Why do we need our “Life List” to go in a bucket?