The preschool teacher at my school put up a bulletin board
called “Our Bucket List” with a beach pail and shovel for each little tyke
to express his/her summer plans.
Dictionary.com says a bucket list is “a list of things a person wants
to achieve or experience, as before reaching a certain age or dying: a bucket
list for a terminally ill patient” and notes the expression comes from the
idiom “kick the bucket,” meaning to die. I started to track down why “kick the
bucket” means to die, but decided not to follow that bunny trail today.
I
have never formally compiled a before-I-die bucket list, but if I did, Visit
Israel would be number one. However, the bulletin board inspired me to compile
a summer bucket list. We can all check back in August when school starts to see
how I did.
Here
in no particular order are the items on my summer bucket list.
- Attend St. Davids Christian Writers Conference in Grove
City, Pennsylvania, June 22 - 26. This is a no-brainer.
I attend every year. You can, too. And you should. Where else are you going to hear a live performance by St. Davids Sanctified Ukulele Band?
How many people can you tag? - Go to Edith’s Kitchen in Danville, Pennsylvania to jam with
the other ukulele players. Apparently this is possible every other Wednesday
night from 6 to 8.
- Visit my friend in Olean, New York.
- Go on a Hiawatha River Cruise. I haven’t done that in many
years.
- Go to the beach. That’s always on my summer bucket list. And
my fall and spring bucket lists.
- Finish my novel, Surviving
Graduation. I should have put that first, but didn’t I say the list was in
no particular order? I need to get from 20,000 words to 50,000 words and get
Laney and friends out of high school. I need to get Daddy home from the Middle
East. I need Laney to choose between Calvin and Joshua. I need to choose between
Calvin and Joshua. Or find a way to concoct a believable accident that merges
the two flawed boyfriends into THE ONE PERFECT BOYFRIEND. If you have read Surviving Meemaw and Surviving Jamaica, feel free to express
your opinion of the boyfriends. If you haven’t read them, put them on your
summer bucket list.
- Buy new drapes for my bedroom. This really should happen.
The same gaudy, ugly drapes have disgraced the bedroom windows since we bought the house sixteen years ago. Their continuing presence speaks both of my finances and my ability to ignore what is right in front of my face.
There will be a public bonfire
to dispose of these beauties. - Declutter my house. (Cue hysterical laughter.)
- Clean my house. (Cue frenetic, desperate laughter.)
- Attend Montrose Christian Writers Conference for the first time.
- Go to a Williamsport Crosscutters baseball game.
Eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor and at other people.
A flying Crosscutter - Visit any or all of my siblings in their foreign locations: New Jersey, Ohio, California, and Pure Michigan.
Meanwhile,
today’s to do-list includes posting this blog. So I shall.
Making a summer bucket list is on my to-do list for this week. I already feel desperate, because by the time I take care of everyone else's needs, there's very little time for any of my wants.
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note, joining our local ukulele jam session once a week for an hour counts, doesn't it? The best part is that it happens while kids are at their music lessons - multitasking at its finest.
Ukulele jam sessions count double. Hopefully I'll be brave enough to show up at this local one. Your children will not always be at the top of the list time wise. What you do for them now is so valuable.
Delete