"When a great adventure is offered, you do not refuse it." Amelia Earhart

Monday, July 19, 2010

The Anti-Bucket List

Bucket lists here, bucket lists there, bucket lists are everywhere! I have been thinking about doing one, but haven't quite gotten around to it. Partly because where does it end? There's always more to add. That's the way it is for me anyway, and so it proved to be a daunting task. Maybe I just need to break it down into a more manageable list. Like, This Month's Bucket List. Or If I Kick It Before Friday. That's just too morbid.

Sooo, when I heard that song "Glitter in the Air" by Pink on the drive home from work today, I got inspired to make a different kind of list.

Here's a small compilation of moments that took my breath away, made me hold my breath, made me feel intensely loved, frightened, peaceful, happy, embarrassed, blessed, thankful. Those heart-racing or heart-wrenching moments that have shaped who I am and those that push me to be more and do more or maybe just slow down for a bit to focus on what's truly important. These are some of the times or things I was doing when I felt most alive. Really alive.

Some are big moments, the ones in which I felt the rest of my life hinged on the delicate balance of what would happen next (or just happened). Some are just plain silly. Such is this beautiful thing we call life.



Have you ever:



Held your breath to hear that first cry?

Stayed awake all night just to watch someone you love sleep?

Done cartwheels down the middle of a sidewalk or street?

Laughed out loud at the most inappropriate time or place (and got many others to join in, while trying hard to contain yourself)?

Let the current just carry you and not worry about where you'll end up?

Gotten lost in a very dodgy (I just love that word!) neighborhood in an unfamiliar city?

Known that God was watching out for you, because you and your passengers just came out of a life-threatening situation with not so much as a scratch?

Slept all night in a hammock in open air with the one you love most?

Stood at the edge of a waterfall? (despite others' pleas to step back a few feet)

Entrusted your life to another (named MadDog, no less) whom you were strapped to and was jumping out of a plane?

Given a stranger in need a ride home?

Prayed for someone you passed by on the street?

Played in the rain? during a thunderstorm? at a water park or the beach?

Heard God whisper to hold on tightly to the person you were hugging because you wouldn't get another opportunity?

Take a vacation to a (faraway) place you've never been all by yourself?

Been laughed at in front of a classroom when trying to present a project, could no longer focus or complete a coherent sentence, just rambled on well enough to get the hell out of there only to find out that it wasn't actually you that was being laughed at but you were already completely traumatized because you were deathly afraid of speaking in front of people and just made a total asswipe out of yourself and delivered the most awful and awkward presentation ever? I've made peace with it. Really. Okay, maybe not so much.


Watched someone you love (who is not a firefighter) fight a fire (of a stranger's home)?

Watched someone you love jump off of a bridge? (And just as he entered the water, thought Oh, shit! My mom and dad are gonna be beyond pissed and I am gonna be so dead! when the police officer interrogated your group and then gaped in amazement as that someone ever so smoothly talked his way out of trouble.)

Watched someone you love get a jumping spinning hook kick powerfully delivered to his head, rendering him quite senseless with a concussion?

Watched and cursed someone you love as he very nearly got you both killed, leaving your newborn child parentless, by following someone too closely while you were on a "leisurely" beach ride on his motorcycle?

Yes, DadMan was that someone. This is but a mere sampling of his daredevilry. He was pretty crazy in his youth. and still is apparently... the last one was just last year. How he -- no, we -- survived these things, God only knows ;)

Held someone's hand so long you couldn't tell where their's ended and your's began?

Performed in front of hundreds of people?

Been comforted by a dog at a time of despair?

Gotten two hours of sleep only to wake up early to drive an hour to the beach for the sole purpose of watching the sun rise? And then drive back two hours later to make it to class on time?

Watched your husband take care of your baby for the first time and think you couldn't possibly love and adore him more than at that moment?


Okay, so I'll leave it at 25 for now. I'm not going to get so ambitious to make this into a meme or anything. However I would really love to hear your "Have you ever"s! Please feel free to share by putting one or two in the comments or dropping off a link in the comments to a post you create on the same topic.

8 comments:

  1. What a great idea! I have held my breath for the first cry, and at this moment I can't think so I will have to get back to you. The little man started to scream about something LOL Hope you are having a great week!

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  2. I love this! I have been tiring of the Bucket Lists, I agree with you on that. How do you decide when to stop? And what if I DID kick the bucket tomorrow, would my list include grocery shopping and laundry?

    I have had many of the experiences on your list...loved listening for that first cry, watching my little daughter sleep the night after she got a concussion, feeling like you've cheated death a few times with God riding on your shoulders somehow.

    Great idea!

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  3. Such a great idea! I love how this makes you think of all the positive (or ridiculous) things that we have to be grateful for instead of all the things we have yet to accomplish. Love it!

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  4. These are fantastic! I'm a new follower. I think it might be cheesy to say that, maybe?, but I wanted you to know. So there. :)

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  5. What a great anti-bucket list! You've got a few things on yours that I've always wanted to try... skydiving among them (although being strapped to someone named MadDog might make me think twice). Great post!

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  6. Loved this list.

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  7. I love the idea of this list! I think it's so much more positive than naming things you might do, it's showing the value in the things you've already done. How cool!
    So many of yours, I nodded my head at.
    I think you need an entire post devoted to the jumping spinning hook kick delivered to the head. That needs some serious follow up!

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  8. I. love. this.

    Do not be surprised if I totally and completely copy the idea. Turns out I'm not as creative as I like to pretend I am. ;)

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