Bucket Lists

As an adult, I met a friend who maintained an insanely long and seemingly impossible "bucket lists".  Some of his ideas are positively wonderful to contemplate when I first read the list.  It's been quite some time since then, and in reading through that same list now, I realize that each single item on the list - while still out of reach for me - were not out of reach for this person.  Each one did involve a certain amount of persistence, effort, and drive - but it is very impressive how many of these seemingly impossible items have now been crossed off of his list.   Simply having the opportunity to read through his list inspired me to start one of my own.  Recently, I met another person who maintains the list in the opposite direction, with a concerted effort  to make sure at least one item is added to her list of "new things encountered and accomplished".As I write this, I can't help but wonder how both of their lists are doing.  No matter how long or short those lists are now, I'm sure both of them are not at all disappointed in their accomplishments.

Niagara Falls - Skywheel

Attitash Mountain Coaster

Have you ever come to the end of a season, and found yourself mourning the fact that yet another year has passed, and you never accomplished some simple task?  For example, I often reach the end of summer, and realize that I never once made it out to the beach, or the coming of Spring, and realize that I've missed out on trying out the special sledding hill that looked so good.  This year, Dan made out a Summer Bucket List, and we managed to accomplish quite a few new things.  We skipped the ocean this year...but I have no regrets.

Arethusa Falls

There is a power in simply writing out your desires and accomplishments - earned or yet to be earned, that somehow managed to help you find a way to make them come to life.

Here are a few of my own personal "bucket list" items.  I hope they inspire you, as my friends inspired me.

Accomplished:

• Take a hot air balloon ride
• Create and sell a handmade craft
• Travel through the bermuda triangle
• Learn a martial art
• Kayak a quiet lake in the early morning
• Earn a master's degree
• Attend a ball
• Ride on the world's fastest rollercoaster
• See the view to the top of the tallest building (NY, Toronto, Tokyo, Manchester, Boston, St. Louis, Dallas, Niagara Falls-Canada)
• Tour an ancient castle
• Smithsonian (Air and Space, Natural History, Fine Art)
• Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum (London, NY)
• Learn to Contra Dance, Square Dance
• Learn how to shoot a gun
• Stargaze from the deck of a boat
• Watch fireworks from a deck of a boat.
• Raise dairy goats for milk
• Raise chickens for eggs
• Create a kitchen herb garden
• Ride in a sleeper car of a train
• Win an art contest
• Raise my children in a good and happy home
• Watch my son graduate from college
• Enjoy the sun and sand au naturale
• Share a hot tub with a ridiculous number of good friends
• Built a geodesic dome house

Yet to do:

• Learn to make the perfect Tiramasu
• Bid on and purchase a work of art from an auction
• Make wine with grapes grown on my own land.
• Make it through one Christmas giving and receiving only handmade gifts.
• Create something useful, and obtain a patent for it
• Swim with dolphins
• Explore a volcano
• Visit a tropical rainforest 
• Publish a book
• Illustrate a book
• Sell a photograph, drawing, or painting.
• Maintain a personal worth of over $1,000,000
• Vacation at an all-inclusive beach resort
• Kayak through a marshy, slow river or pond, photographing wildlife
• See the view to the top of the tallest building (recommendations-anyone?)
• Learn Zumba or Line Dancing
• Visit Stonehenge
• Soak in a natural hot-spring in Iceland
• See the fjords of Norway
• See the waterfalls of Hawaii
• Participate in an active hunt for deer or moose

Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments below - I'm always looking for a few good ideas to add to my list!