bucket list – Swimming With The Rain

Bucket List Ideas

July 11, 2020

I’m not sure if the term ‘Bucket List’ was used prior to the release of the movie “Bucket List” starring Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman, written and produced by Rob Reiner, but it is something that everyone now seems to have. In fact, I have kept a running list on my phone since 2012.

Why on my phone? Because each time I have an idea, I can immediately add to it and the list keeps growing. I have only been able to scratch two things off of there and that has been within the past year (lightning bugs and covered bridges).

So, what’s the difference between a bucket list and goals? To me, a bucket list is something you do that encourages you to experience life and fill your soul with memories, while a goal is something you work toward and even build on.

For instance, with the lightning bugs, growing up out west, we didn’t have these things. Although I had read about these little flying glow sticks in books, heard lyrics about summer evenings being lit up with them in songs, and saw them set the backdrop in movies, they always held a romantic mystery to me. While visiting Ann in Indiana last year, there they were! She caught one for me and put it on my arm and I smiled like a child that had just walked in to Disney Land. I experienced this moment and it was amazing. I was experiencing life!

But, a goal… Now that is something you work towards and even build on. Let’s look at this website I am working on. For most of my life, if you would have asked me, “What is your dream job?”, I would have said, “A photographic journalist”. I had been writing for years, sometimes reading things to people, sometimes keeping my words tucked away. This websites name, I had planned out during the summer of 2018, even checking to make sure it wasn’t in use. But, it took time for me to have the courage to do it and even once I did it, it took strength for me to announce it to the world.

I don’t have the specifics written down of how I want to achieve each Bucket List item… It is generally just a few words about each thing because to me, getting in to too much detail, takes away from the spontaneity of how things are meant to happen. Take the Covered Bridges as an example… I didn’t know how I was going to make it happen, I just knew that I wanted it to. I ended up seeing one from the back of a Harley and another from the passenger side of a Corvette. Now, doesn’t that beat a tour bus? Which, I would done except for some good friends that made it happen.

And now, my Bucket List as of mid-2020…

Visit Atlantic Ocean. I have seen the Atlantic twice – once from a parking lot in Miami and the other from a road in Daytona Beach. I want to actually put my toes in it and feel the sand. Growing up on the Pacific and living on the Gulf Coast, I think it is only suiting to feel another body of water that boarders our amazing country.

Road Trip without a destination. Not the whole Thelma and Louise thing, fyi.

Ireland, Italy, Greece, Holland… Basically all of Europe.

Skydiving.

Gulf of Alaska.

Sex in a hurricane. (Ignore that one, Dad)

Walk Paris streets at night.

Drive a race car.

Grape stomping.

Visit with monks / nuns. I have this desire to be filled with their peace.

~~Covered Bridge.~~

Mardi Gras. I’ve been to New Orleans and I’ve done Bourbon Street. But, I want to experience an actual Mardi Gras with the parades and floats!

Grand Canyon.

Stay at a Dude Ranch.

African Safari.

Broadway show. I’ve seen plays and productions, but I want to be in actual New York City and watch a true Broadway show.

Opera.

Outer Banks.

~~Lightning Bugs.~~

Northern Lights.

See the Pope. I’m not even Catholic and I think it would be amazing to see this world leader.

Zambia 338ft Waterfall.

Ice fishing.

Wild Horses.

Blue Water Paradise in Arizona.

Concert at Redrock.

Stay in a seaside village as a tourist. I already live in one and I am curious as to what it is like to not be a local.

So, what is in your Bucket List? Where do you keep it? If you have not started one yet, start today. It is ok to let your heart dream and wonder, that is what keeps your soul alive and thriving. Make sure to add in simple things like lightning bugs but also far reaching like an African Safari. Doing this ensures that you take pleasure in life’s little gifts but keeps you seeking more. As you add these moments to your life, get lost in your surroundings and soak it up. Because a photo will not truly capture it, but your senses will.

Books

You and Me and Us by Alison Hammer

May 20, 2020June 14, 2020

One Family, One Last Summer

In my life, I have dealt with in-laws dying of cancer and although I was never there for the final moments, I did a lot of care giving. I don’t know if it makes a difference that they were older, but it brought peace knowing that they had led good long lives. But, this will take you into the mindset of being the spouse and of being the daughter to this incredibly amazing man, Tommy. Alexis is a busy working mom and not that she puts her career first, she just knows that Tommy is such an excellent father to 15 year old Cece, that she feels that one, it is ok to forward her demanding career, and two, that Tommy is such a present father, that he makes up for the two of them. Until, they are faced with Tom’s Stage 4 cancer, for which treatment isn’t an option. What’s it like to have to say goodbye to the love of your life, while your teenage daughter, who doesn’t like you, is trying to still be a teenager and fall in love herself? Set in the beautiful seaside town of Destin, Florida, you will feel like you are sitting on the front porch swing, smelling the salt air, and drinking fresh Arnold Palmer’s, with this family. When it’s done, you will contemplate your own life and how you would like to spend your remaining days, reminding you of the little things that make up life long memories.

Book Club Questions (Do not read further if you have not finished the book)

Do you think Tommy made the right decision choosing not to get treatment?
Where would you want to spend your last days?
What would be on your “list” similar to what Tommy had?
A lot of parents and teenagers have tough relationships. Do you think the way Cece and Alexis saw each other was fair? Without Tommy’s illness, do you think they would have been able to repair their relationship?
How do you think Alexis and Tommy’s marriage will affect Cece’s future views on marriage and relationships?
Alexis has two best friends – Jill and Becky. Her friendship with each woman fill very different purposes in her life. What are those purposes?
CeCe has a moment when she realizes that Tommy isn’t just her dad, but that he’s also his own person. From your own experience, how do you think this affected her?
What did you think of Tommy’s decision to see and forgive Monica? If you were Alexis, would you have been okay with having his ex over to your house?
Do you think Alexis made the right decision taking Cece to California? Why or why not?
Where do you think Alexis and Cece will be in five years? Ten years?
What did you like best about the book?
What did you like least about the book?
If you were making a movie of this book, who would you cast?
Which character in the book would you most like to meet?
If you could hear this story from another character’s point of view, who would it be?
What gaps do you wish the author would have filled in?

Bucket List Ideas

You and Me and Us by Alison Hammer

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