"The Bucket List"

Ever since I heard about the movie "The Bucket List" I've been intrigued by the concept. For those of you who haven't heard about it, it's about two terminally ill men who make up a list of everything they want to do before they kick the bucket. Hence The Bucket List. I like the idea of lifetime goals, of setting out to realize ambitions and fulfill dreams. That's a large part of what has motivated me for the last couple of years. No, I'm not terminally ill, or even seriously ill, but I lost my second parent in April 2006, and that does tend to cause you to take stock of your life - where you're at, what you've done, and what you want to accomplish in the finite though unknown amount of time you have left. Awareness of your own mortality tends to kick you off your ass and into motion to do all those things that you previously filed away under "maybe someday". When you know in your heart that your somedays are numbered, you become highly motivated not to waste them.

Going back to school is a highly placed item on my own mental bucket list, one that has thus far brought satisfaction, fulfillment and an array of new opportunities. Working to make the world a better place than I found it is another important item on my list. There are many ways to accomplish this, and I believe part of the mission and mystery of life is to find your own particular way to change the world for the better. I believe my own particular way to change the world is through social activism, writing and teaching.

Ever since I heard about this movie I've wanted to talk to my best friend about it. Occasionally we joke about being old ladies together in the same nursing home one day in the far-off future. If there is anyone in this world I could see making a bucket list-type pact with, it's her. And we'd certainly have fun with it!

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory or defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

Later,
AuntieM