Hey, bartender!
Do you have a bucket list?
After 2018, mine is more like a shot glass.
Last year, I crossed off two big items on my personal bucket list: vacationing in Hawaii and becoming a grandmother. Granted, I didn’t have any control over the grandmother business, but since a bucket list is filled with things you wish to experience, I’d tossed it in there. Thanks to my older son and his wife, the arrival of my grandson last October took care of that item.
Going to Hawaii happened last March. My husband and I visited Kauai and Oahu, attended a luau, marveled at waterfalls and spectacular scenery. Another huge item off my bucket list.
Warm winters and happy retirement
In 2015, my husband retired, and we moved into the Sunbelt. We raised our children in Minnesota, and while life there was good and full, I decided I didn’t want to endure cold winters in my senior years. The last winter we spent in Minnesota, I fell twice on ice walking the dog; I promised myself ice-free walking in retirement. In the last three years here in the Texas Hill Country, I’ve encountered ice on the roads once, and it was gone by 9 in the morning. Two big items gone from the bucket.
“So what’s left?” my husband asked me at the turn of 2018 into 2019.
I ran through the list in my head.
Our children grown and on their own. Check.
Good health. Thank God. Double check.
What else mattered to me?
“Spending time outdoors,” I told my husband. “And praying.” I thought for a few more moments. “I don’t know – maybe trying to learn Spanish?”
My husband laughed. “That doesn’t sound like a bucket list,” he said. “More like a shot glass.”
“I’m going to quote you,” I threatened.
Check.
Low expectations
Actually, he shouldn’t be surprised at my miniscule list. We always joke that one of our family mottos is “Low Expectations.” That was coined after a trip some thirty years ago, when we drove across two states in a blizzard on our way home from a family holiday during which I broke out in a whole-body rash thanks to an antibiotic I was on to which I didn’t know I was allergic. AND we had four children in the minivan, all under the age of seven, which meant we listened to the same kiddie song cassette for almost eight hours straight.
Seriously, we’ve never listened to another Raffi song since. “Baby Beluga” only crops up in an occasional stress dream, thank goodness.
What a psychologist would say about our family motto is not something I care to contemplate. All I know is, it worked for me.
Speaking of low expectations, I just thought of something for my bucket – I mean my shot glass – list.
I want to ride in an airboat across a swamp.
Without Raffi music.
On second thought, make that shot-sized list of mine a double.
Bottoms up!
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