Bucket List

Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing? ~Shakespeare, As You Like It

Michael Buble’, check! 

Long before there was a movie called Bucket List, I had a list of things I’ve wanted to do before I die. I have no plans on dying anytime soon. Yet, nobody knows what the future holds, right? I’ve worked hard on letting go of the past (it only makes me hurt or angry dwelling on things); and I try not to project the future (because that only causes me to have fear or anxiety when I worry).  However, if I do think about the future at all now, it’s fanciful and pleasant.

I’d like to make the best of this ‘one and only’ life God gave me. And if I have my grandmother’s genes, I may still be around when cars fly or transporters are finally invented. I’d love to be transported to Paris in the blink of an eye. Paris is on my Bucket List. Rich and I hope to go there for our 25^th Anniversary and walk hand in hand through the Louvre. The closest we’ve gotten is Epcot Center in FL and the Eiffel Tower in Vegas. 

We did get to England for the best 10-day vacation ever. I’m an Anglophile.  It felt like we were in a romantic movie. The line in Shakespear’s play As You Like It said it best. “I like this place and willingly could waste my time in it.” It was a thrill to check off seeing Stratford-upon-Avon and the Bard’s home. The next time I’m in England, my #1 Bucket List event is to go see Elton John. I know this is bloody cheeky, but I’d rather see Elton than the Queen. 

There are some things that seem unattainable in the future. I can’t go to the Oprah Show now (even though I promised her that I’d stop texting while driving). I didn’t win a ticket to her Farewell Show (the modern equivalent of a Willy Wonka Golden Ticket). I said back in high school that I’d run a marathon. That is a hilarious, hairy audacious goal to think about now. Only Scott Price may remember my lame claim and mock me. I’ve decided that a marathon is the last thing to check off on my Bucket List—because I’m sure it will kill me!!  I didn’t get to meet Billy Graham. Because of ailing health, he doesn’t go out in public much. But back in 2002, we were in the same building, probably on the same floor at the same time, at a writer’s conference in Asheville NC. It was the Christian version of Elvis is in the building.

I am planning on going to see the Dalai Lama July 17^th at the UIC Pavilion for his talk on ‘Bridging the Faith Divide, Compassion in Action’. This subject is dear to my heart. I don’t know what it is about the Dalai Lama, but he makes me smile to my very core whenever I hear him talk about peace and understanding.  I wish I could have a personal audience with the Dalai Lama for my Bucket List, but I’ll settle for being ‘in’ the audience.

If you know me at all, you’d know I love parades. I love setting up my chairs the night before for a good seat along the parade route here in town. I will fight the kids for candy. And I will stand with pride and a tear in my eye when the soldiers pass by. So the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade are on my Bucket List. 

I’d like to travel some places with some people I love. Top of my Bucket List, is to take my Irish son, Kevin Callahan to Ireland. I’d even drink a pint or two with him. I’d like to go to Vegas with my brother Mike. He won over $3000, at quarter slots in a casino in AZ. I’d like to see what kind of luck he’d have in Vegas. One day I hope I can take all the grandkids on a trip to Disney World when they are old enough to remember it. I’d like to take another trip with my brother and sister in law, Ralph and Patti. We went to St. Johns some years ago and they are fun to travel with. So on my Bucket List, I’d like going to New Zealand, Scotland, Italy, Greece, or Hawaii with them. Actually, we could go to Mackinac Island and I’d be good with that too. I’d like to take a spa trip with the Sisterchicks. Also on my BL is to go to Mardi Gras with my Homies because they are free entertainment even when it’s not Fat Tuesday. They will need someone to take sober pictures and bring bail money.  I’d love to do a mission trip with Steve and Susie McNitt. I love their compassion for the under-resourced and those loved dearly by God. I’d like to march on Washington again for a good cause. And I’d like to dance like a crazy fool at my single girlfriends weddings when Mr. Deserving makes her Mrs. Deserving.

I know, my Bucket List is out there: I’d like to ride the Orient Express to meet exotic people. I’m a hat girl, so I was meant to go to the Kentucky Derby Horse Race. I think going to the Texas Fair where they have ‘fried everything’ is something that my arteries should also experience just once. I’d like to attend the Superbowl (preferably for the Bears). I’d like to meet a sitting President someday. And also like to visit the White House. It doesn’t have to be on the same day. I’m hoping to go to New York City this fall. I’d love to go see a Broadway Show, see Ground Zero to pay my respects, and get tickets for Jon Stewart, Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon, or Greg Ferguson (but only if Sid the Cussing Rabbit is on that night). The energy of New York City would be amazing, not to mention the food. I’d like to have a Wikipedia page of my own, but not for being notorious, criminal or immoral. Hopefully it will be for the book I wrote about people who are criminal, immoral, or just epically flawed like me.

Going to see Michael Buble’ in concert was so much fun. I’m glad I got to check that off my list. He’s a true entertainer (the Frank Sinatra of this generation.) He even came into the crowd and walked right past me. What possessed me to put my hand on his shoulder, I have no idea? He doesn’t make me swoon, but his music reminds me why I love my husband and life. I know a Bucket List may be impractical and even childish. There are lots of other things and people I want to see on my Bucket List. The BL isn’t about dying as much as it’s about living. It’s the dreamer in me that believes in impossible possibilities. Ultimately, I humbly know, Proverbs 16:9 “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.