Bucket List

Ramblings Post #275
First you gotta have a plan. A goal, a direction, a pathway, a notion of the destination. Populate it with milestones lest you get lost...or bored. Then start moving. Take a few minutes to enjoy the view and the journey. Don't be afraid to wander, but always get back to task in the end. And if you meet someone and it feels right, don't be afraid to make a new plan.

In Concert, boo-yah!

I have a bucket list. It's seventy five items long and I wrote it when I was in my early twenties I think. At least that's what the font looks like. 

More than a few of them seem silly now, the product of young mind who hadn't seen the world or really done anything. Others are strangely prescient of someone looking to experience all he could. Quite a few are existential. Some dangerous. And sadly, most of them are undone. This a sampling, I guess, of what I hope to achieve. I still got time. 

2. Publish a novel.

This one I'm closest to actually doing. My brother has published a collection of short stories that I still haven't read in their final form, but was privy to and occasional proofread for content before he put it out there. I on the other hand am determined to publish a novel...start, story arc, end. It need not be epic, or the great American story, but it needs to be complete. Like many things I get the impression that once I've finished the first one the others will be, well, the term easy is wrong, but just say less hard. I hope.

13. Learn to sail

Considering I'm not that big a fan of the water, that I actually want to learn to sail - or wanted to learn to sail at one time - is kind of amazing. Maybe it's that my life plan includes yachting, and I just don't want to get caught out there with no skills. I would blame it on my penchant for pirate movies, but this is way before my fascination with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Still, want to sail.

31. Spend a week at the Smithsonian

I went to the Smithsonian as a child, and I remember getting there late and having to rush through the
exhibits. Back then I as enthralled by models - ship models, building models, etc, and I remember a few great ones flashing by. But this time when I go back, I want time. Lots of time, with like a little carry foot stool so if I spot something really good I can just sit down and gaze. And I figure the kind of attention I'm trying give could be squeezed into a week. Well, ten days really.

48. Be in concert

Now, I don't expect to play Wembley Stadium, or Radio City Music Hall, or even the County Fair, to be honest, but my goal is to be in concert somewhere, doing something. A comedy routine or actually learn an instrument I'm not sure, but true performance. Maybe I'll dance. I want to sell tickets, maybe golden tickets with holograms...maybe 20 and then have my show. Multimedia maybe. And One night only, like the Blues Brothers Rhythm and Blues Revue.

73. Drive across America

Not travel across America, DRIVE across America. And not one of those California turnaround empty highway at 3am doing praying the car stays in one piece situations either. I mean a long slow, meandering drive across the states, stopping at diners and dives, and roadside attractions and pulling over beside just gaze at the open countryside. The goal is to see America, not just pass it as I'm trying to get to my destination. Yes, it sounds old fashioned, but is that so wrong?

My advice? If you don't have a Bucket List, I suggest you make one. Let's just say that if I made one now, it would give me focus, if not clear out my thinking of all the trivial things and get my mind right for the future. What you feel you must do in this lifetime says a lot about you.

Barkeep, I don't have any drinks on my Bucket List I must try, so a sweet tea with lemon. Thanks.

Odd Quotes

One of the problems of being a dreamer, is that dreams rarely come true. One of the other problems with being a dreamer is that you just can't stop.
~ Me

A very good dog

Spice was a good dog.

She could run further than me. On a three mile run...well, run slash jog, um, slash walk and occasional stagger, she complained not at all, eager to get out in the sun. She was always happy to see me, and knew I was good for a spot right behind the ears rub. She had soulful eyes, that told a story and made one believe there was more to her than just a dog. I sat her more than few times, her and her friend and even when her master moved West, and then North, I had hoped to see her again. But, she was fifteen, which is up there in dog years.

Spice was good dog.

Odd Quotes

"One day she finally grasped that unexpected things were always going to happen in life. And with that she realized the only control she had was how she chose to handle them. So she made the decision to survive using courage, humor and grace. She was the queen of her own life, and the choice was hers."
~ Somewhere on the internet

Sometimes it's about Family

Free...

Another of my aunts passed away. And I ashamed that I am both happy and sad.

I am sad that she has left this mortal coil, but I am happy that she is free. A number of years ago she had a stroke, and had been bed-ridden, unable to do many things.  The past few years she'd been in and out of the hospital for long stretches, and I long wondered about her quality of life. But still I am saddened by her passing.

My cousin, her daughter, tended to her closely as a family could. She set aside the degrees they had both been so proud of her achieving, and she turned her mother's bedroom into a medical space so she could be surrounded by family. She learned to her mother's new speech patterns and became attuned to her needs, along the way becoming perhaps more of a medical expert she'd ever intended. We spent holidays there so my aunt would always be included. And as much as I admired my cousin's devotion in the past few years I wondered if her life was to be spent in service to her ailing mother.   

Now that time is past. I am filled with conflict. Pain at her departure, and yet an underlying joy that her soul is free.