My Bucket List

A few months ago I was ecstatic when my friend Tasha at work gave me one of those adult education/lifelong learning booklets that I had asked her to save for me if she got one in the mail. Do you know which ones I'm talking about? The ones that have language classes and sewing classes and all kinds of other classes in the evenings at high schools and such. Well, I was excitedly contemplating taking a French class, or a snowshoeing class (dorky, I know, no need to point that out), or a guitar class and as I excitedly browsed through the booklet, another co-worker asked me if I was bored with my life and it caught me a little off guard. I was a little dumbfounded by the question and also intrigued as to how she came up with that conclusion. Is having the desire to learn something new that could open your mind or to try something out for the mere fact that it might be fun, so unusual that you have to assume the person is bored with his or her life? I surely hope not.

It's hard for me to imagine people not having, at the very least, a mental note of things they'd like to accomplish in their lives, wether it'd be learning a new language or having a child, traveling to some exotic country or landing a dream job, because we all have goals we set for ourselves in all aspects of our lives, some small, some big, some fun, and some more serious.

All of this made me remember the list I made years ago of all the things I wished to do, see, and learn at some point in my life so I decided to share my most up to date to-do list (in no particular order) with the world, though I am certain I will cross off some things and add more, but for now here it is:

1.  Ride on an elephant;

2.  Take flight lessons;

3.  Pay off all my debts;

4.  Go to a Bill Maher show;

5.  See the Taj Mahal;

6.  Learn to speak French;

7.  Learn to play an instrument;

8.  Go to Egypt, see some pyramids, & ride a camel; 

9.  Go on a safari in Africa;

10.  Learn to speak Italian;

11.  See Machu Pichu;

12.  Go to Easter Island;

13.  Ride in a gondola in Venice;

14.  Go skydiving; 

15.  Participate in a race;

16.  Learn to ski or snowboard (whichever is easiest);

17.  Learn to sew on a sewing machine;

18.  Write a book;

19.  Do humanitarian work abroad;

20.  Read 'War and Peace';

21.  Learn to play tennis;

22.  Get in shape and stay at a healthy weight once and for all;

23.  Go to Vienna and visit the homes of Sigmund Freud and Mozart and see 'The Kiss';

24.  Visit the Amazonian jungle;

25.  Visit Niagara Falls;

26.  Walk on the Great Wall of China;

27.  Go to Fiji;

28.  Swim in Jellyfish Lake in Palau;

29.  Go on an Alaskan cruise;

30.  Set foot on all 7 continents;

31.  Own a Jeep;

32.  Read 'Don Quijote de la Mancha';

33.  Take a road trip across the U.S.;

34.  Take a hot air balloon ride; 

35.  Visit the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacan; 

36.  Go snowshoeing;

37.  Travel throughout Spain and make my way down into Morocco;

38.  Go to Portugal;

39.  Go white water rafting;

40.  Become good at Yoga;

41.  See The Stonehenge;

42.  Own a home;

43.  Get caught up with all my scrapbooking projects;

44.  Learn American Sign Language;

45.  Visit all 50 U.S. States;

46.  Go to Mexico City and visit Frida Kahlo's house, Teotihuacan, the National Palace, the Museum of Anthropology, Chapultepec, and the Metropolitan Cathedral;

47.  Own a business;

48.  Visit all Latin American Countries;

49.  Help save the turtles (somewhere);

50.  Take surfing lessons;

51.  See a New York City Broadway Show, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Statue of Liberty up close;

52.  See the Arches National Park;

53.  Be part of a flash mob;

54.  Go paddle boarding; and

55.  See the Petra ruins.