Highlights from my "bucket list"

Last week, my little sister posted her complete, 240-item "bucket list" on her blog (and if you don't know what a bucket list is, please see the explanation and ideas at this link). Somewhat intimidated by this, I contemplated copying her and posting my own on here. For you see, I have had a list of 100 things to do before I die since BEFORE I saw the fantastic Rob Reiner film "The Bucket List," with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, which I urge everyone to see at some point. However, further contemplation and an unwillingness to expend that much space has prompted me to narrow down my 100-item list to no more than 20 highlights-- 10 somewhat out there, 10 achieveable. So, without further ado, the short version of my bucket list.

Carolyn's "Bucket List" (abbrev. version):

• Learn to ballroom dance.
• Spend a month on a ranch in Montana.
• Be a "fiddler on the roof."
• Watch a lightning show over a lake or ocean.
• Own a first edition of an old book.
• Enjoy my career.
• Get married.
• Send a message in a bottle.
• Learn to play guitar and mandolin.
• See all the movies on my list.
  
• Visit the United Kingdom.
• Attend a World Series baseball game.
• Scuba dive in Australia.
• Ride in a hot air balloon at sunrise.
• Go on an archaeological dig.
• Visit all 50 US states and all 13 Canadian provinces.
• Ride a camel.
• Defy gravity.
• Spend time north of the Arctic circle.
• See the Northern Lights.
  

Incidentally, there are a few items that I have managed to cross off the full version of my list. My favorite on the list of the ones I've done is "catch a firefly." This I managed to do during my last year as a camper at Wanakee when I was hanging out on the farmhouse porch and one flew behind my glasses. It was unintentional, but it was very fun and convenient...and holding that little sucker in my hands, peeking in, and seeing the light was a very cool experience. Just goes to show you that some of the best items on the bucket list don't have to be complicated or grandiose. "It's the little things in life that make me happy." (Thank you to Robert De Niro's character in Stardust).