My Bucket List

Ok, I did it.  I caved.  I created a bucket list.  Not because I plan on "kicking the bucket" anytime in the near future, but out of boredom.  I know, when do I have time to get bored?  Generally, I don't have time to stop and think, let alone get bored.  Usually my days are overflowing with work, teaching our girls, or stuff that needs done at home.  But in this case I had a few hours on my hands.  Eugene and I were in the car on the way home from one of our many trips.  I had time to kill sitting in the passenger seat watching the miles click away.

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I am a list maker.  Yes, I'm one of those crazy people who need to make a list for everything.  If a list can be created for it, I have one.  Well, probably more than one.  I have lists for my lists. So really it should have been a natural thing for me to want to create a bucket list.  It's a list after all, isn't it?

But I resisted. Why?  I guess it is because I don't want to think about death - especially my own. And I associate bucket lists with "the end".  (Notice the multiple references to death...yikes)  Frankly, I don't want to be at the end.  So I hadn't even thought about making "this" list.

As Eugene and I were chatting away in the car....  Ok, really, I was doing most of the talking, he was graciously listening.  So as I was talking, a list began to develop. And I, true to form, had a tablet handy to write it all down. (Because, well, you never know when you have to make a list.)

Then it hit me.  I must be one of the most boring people in the universe.  You see, my list isn't very long.  I've seen other bucket lists that go on for pages.  The pages are filled with all kinds of things that people want to do before their end comes. Mine has 21 items.  Yep, 21 things I want to do before I leave this great big blue marble. Sad isn't it?  No, and here's why....

Here is what really struck me as I sat there and looked at my list.  It wasn't the fact that my list was short.  (Well that kinda bugged me at first.)  But what hit me was all the things I would have put on my list had I created it several years ago.  If I had created the list back then I guess it would have been pages long.

I have been so blessed to have been able to meet some amazing people, visit some great places and do some things I had never imagined would be possible.  I have gotten to meet some of my heroes. I even married my Price Charming. I couldn't add things to my bucket list because in that moment I realized I had all ready done them.  This is how God works.  Where we see small, God shows us big.  He shows us the blessings.

So instead of lamenting my short bucket list, I started counting all of the wonderful blessings in my life.  I would make a list of those as well, but even for this list maker it would use too many tablets.