The list.

I am a list maker. I thoroughly enjoy lists to the point of questioning whether I should add an item to the list after I did it just so I can cross it off. I haven’t yet, but I have thought about it.

Years ago I made a bucket list. The plan is to complete everything on the list before I kick the bucket. I have been off to a bang up start! I have been ski diving, I ran a half marathon, and I took a ride in a helicopter. Check, check and check. I have been learning to play the guitar and took a few dance lessons too. Those are both partially crossed off.

Then it went a little further. I made another bucket list. Now I have a list of places I want to see before my grand finale. This is getting out of control, or maybe it is being too in control.

Alright crazy lady, you need to put the pen down. Some of my best memories in the last few years were not planned at all. Last minute road trips are my favorite and perhaps, my little list making habit is more inhibiting than inspirational. How can I have a list that must be completed by an unknown deadline?

The worst part about a bucket list is it just keeps getting better. I thought I would go to Ireland and then I could cross it off. Wrong. Now I just want to go back! Oh those emerald isles…such a tease! I went to Olympic National Park and caught a glimpse of Canada. OH Canada…I have not been over that border since I was a kid! And never on the west coast…how exciting!

I am in big, big trouble here.

I need out! Don’t get me wrong: I have no intention of abandoning adventure. That would be ludicrous! Instead I plan on flying away wherever the wind takes me, bucket list in hand. What? I can’t get rid of it entirely. My memory is crap and there is a good reason this thing is nearly as long as I am tall. I just don’t want it to ever be a burden. If there is an amazing vacation that is not on the list I’m still going! Likewise, the earth will continue to rotate if this is not the year I make it to Spain. I will get there someday.

“Do what you can, want what you have, be who you are.”