Last Wishes

Star crossed lovers
in the meadow await
the rising of the dipper
to seal their fate.

T'was a love born between
future and past,
that now clings together
under this grass....by E. Bruce Cameron

It's tough planning ahead when you are on the last quarter of life... Little questions creep into your mind....

Imagine a '33 record, spinning under a needle, going round and round, playing the music of MY life. The needle spins closer to the middle and the rotations get smaller and smaller.... That's what it's like getting older. The days pass quickly, turning weeks into months, months into years.... Only when you are older do you look back and say, "Where did time go?"

During a morbid lunch conversation, when talk turned to what we all would like to do before we die, friends asked, "Have you made your list yet?" I just sat there an shook my head. I got nothing.... I never thought I would have an opportunity to do anything I wanted before I died EXCEPT work... I had not yet watched "The Bucket List," but after renting it one weekend, it occurred to me that I had already completed a few items on the movie's wish list....
So, one lazy Saturday afternoon, a few months ago while watching tv, I created my own "bucket list." It wasn't as elaborate as the movie's list, but it was realistic and appropriate for my current financial status. I didn't give it a lot of thought, I quickly just put it down on paper as things flashed into my mind. Then, I looked at it for a few days and let it rest next to my tv guide.... Every day I looked at it, I became disgusted that I had considered making a list in the first place. This was like acknowledging that death could soon be at my door, so I wodded up the list and threw it away...

Recreated, it's now listed here, in no order of importance...as a reminder that time is ticking.

My Bucket List:

1. Bondurant Driving School

2. Fly a plane

3. Ride in a WW2 Bomber...DONE

4. Ride in the cab of a locomotive

5. Spend 2 days on an active navy warship (aircraft carrier/submarine)

6. Go to Bora Bora

7. Go to Scotland

8. Return to Italy

9. Lose 40 Pounds

10. Visit the basement of the IMS Museum

11. Hawg hunting in Texas...DONE
What to do, what to do.... Such a painful, agonizing decision....

I reserve the option of changing the list as my view of the world changes.