My Bucket List

My bucket list. Hmmm...I've thought about it quite a bit through the years. I just never put a name to it. I never put a name to the things I want to do before I die, "before I kick the bucket" -- my bucket list. I saw the movie, "The Bucket List" with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman the Friday it opened. It is a great movie and got me to thinking. Instead of thinking of the things I want to do, why not write them down and cross them off my list as I accomplish them? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not planning on kicking any buckets anytime soon. Nope, not me. I've got too much to do. But it never hurts to have a list. And believe me, the older I get, the more I depend on lists. I live by lists! So here's another list to add to my already too-deep stack of lists. I think I'll keep this one handy.

I've never been one to travel much...not that I don't want to. I would LOVE to be able to travel. I've just never had the means or the time. But you know what? "Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future" and I can't get it back. Once it's gone, it's gone. I'm almost 50, so if I'm going to get any travelling done, I need to get started! A lot of my bucket list involves travel. That's what I really want to do, but if I'm not able to literally and physically go, that's okay. I can still read about these places and watch videos of them. I love doing that, anyway, and it's a lot cheaper than actually going! Okay...so here I go with My Bucket List. I may add to it occasionally as time goes by, so check back often for any updates.

1. I've always wanted to go to Italy with Becky. One of these days we're going to make it there. We'll visit the cathedrals, travel the countryside, eat the good food and definitely sample the gelatto!
2. Switzerland. I've wanted to go there since I was a little girl and my parents went. Their pictures and the stories they told planted it in my heart to go. I've had other family members go there and they all make it sound absolutely wonderful and dazzlingly beautiful. I want to visit the tiny villages that hang off the sides of the mountains. And I want to experience "Jungfraujoch" in Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. It is advertised as having "staggering views from the world's highest railroad at 11,400 ft." It is a railroad trip through Switzerland. Want to go with me?!
3. I want to visit the "Bussaco Forest" in Coimba Beiras, Portugal and stay at the Palace Hotel do Bussaco. It's not really a forest, but an enormous walled arboretum carefully tended to by monks for centuries. The king had a summer palace built there in the 17th century, which is now a Hotel.
4. Block Island, Rhode Island - a very small, quiet, quaint little new england island. A perfect place to go for a time of peaceful respite from a too-busy world.
5. Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany "the city of churches" This is one of the few cities that was left unharmed by the air raids of World War II. The main cathedral in town, Dom St. Peter is renowned for two things; its original 14th century stained glass windows and world-renowned Boys Choir.
6. I want to go to Alaska. I think an Alaskan cruise would be fantastic!
7. I want to take a trip on a train. (That may be covered if I go to Switzerland!) To travel through Europe via rail would be exciting.
8. I want to take a really nice trip somewhere with Tim - it doesn't really matter where - to celebrate one of our anniversaries (or all of them! lol) and the completion of his doctorate degree. We've said for years that "on our next anniversary" we're taking a trip. It just never has happened yet, but I am holding out. We will take that trip one day!!

Not all of the items on my bucket list involve travel. Here are a few more items.

9. I want to get completely organized and de-cluttered. (Ok, quit laughing now.)
10. I want to lose 50 lbs and be in good health. I have come to realize that good health is not something to take for granted. And a lot of our health issues involve preventive and pro-active measures. I am already working on this one.
11. I want to write a book. NOT for publication, but for my own pleasure and sense of accomplishment.
12. I want to hold my grandchildren. Enough said.

So there you have it - My Bucket List - as of today, February 1, 2008.