We're supposed to prepare a bucket list* – stuff we'd like to do, accomplish, experience before meeting the Grim Reaper, kicking the proverbial bucket. Death, it's something to be prepared for, not by winding one's life down but by living it.
Right, here's my first public list, starting with the things I've done already:
- Visit the USA. (Five times.)
- Visit Canada, see Niagara Falls. (Once.)
- Visit Egypt. (Twice.)
- Visit Amsterdam, see the red-light district. (Half-done, probably the only man alive to fail at this simple task.)
- Visit Bruges, see Hieronymous Bosch's triptych. (Twice and once.)
- Propose marriage somewhere extraordinarily romantic in the most romantic way imaginable. (Not in a port on a ferry! Maybe prior to a renewal of vows?)
- Get married, have 2.4 children, get comfortable. (2 girls, currently 3 pets, comfortable is years away.)
- Visit somewhere hot, chill out for 2 weeks. (We got married, honeymooned in Antigua, I nearly relaxed.)
- See live NFL American Football. (Cleveland Browns.)
- See live US College Football. (Bowling Green.)
- See live Friday night high school Football. (Wauseon OH.)
- Stand in front of a piece of art that won't let me go, (Cleveland, a typical Mark Rothko piece, 3 horizontal bands, perfect.)
- Visit London, England. (I'd seen Washington DC, Ottawa, Cairo, Edinburgh, Cardiff – but not my native country's very own capital city, at least not until literally 2 weeks prior to this post!)
- Try the cats' food to see if it's 'good enough.) (Don't try this at home children!)
Unfulfilled ambitions:
- Read my copy of 'things to do now you're 50' and do some of those things now I am,
- Get a UK Premier League football season ticket and redevelop a familiarity with the sport. (I used to have a Championship-level one with Burnley FC),
- Learn to swim. (To join my family in the pool),
- Ride a camel, (Egypt would be favourite, when 'things' settle),
- Triage my science fiction collection, broaden my horizons,
- Clear out the garage, even though a car will not fit,
- Regain the patience to read again. (I used to have a voracious appetite for books, it's passed on to my oldest daughter),
- Visit at least 2 more European countries. (Italy for my wife [she wants to see Florence, I want to visit Pompeii] and France [e.g. Euro Disney]),
- Save up for a cruise (mini cruises across to Europe do not count),
- Reduce my reliance on technology,
- Live a little…
Now-impossible:
- Become a pilot, spaceman, cowboy.
- Turn back the clock to study for and get a university mechanical engineering degree, for a somewhat different career. (Or leave home to work for the UK Ordnance Survey as a cartographer.)
- See Talking Heads play live. Anywhere.
Not complete, for this is a first draft at a point half-way through my life.**
Do you know something, I've been bloody lucky.
* Thanks to @bsag on App.net for providing the inspiration for this post. Just a few words, but so well-timed.
** Ha! I should be so lucky.