Adventure #6 Bucket Lists

 Bucket Lists

In recent years at least, maybe because of the increase of cancer cases, bucket lists have become a "thing". At least that is my impression. Also the movie of the two older gentleman doing their bucket list, the name of which I have forgotten if I ever knew it, adds to the popularity of the idea. As I was getting ready for the day, the bucket list idea returned to my thinking but in a different context.

In a few short weeks, my son and I will be going on a two week adventure to see a couple of the national parks and ride our bikes on the Hiawatha Bike Trail. Supposedly a 17 mile wonder down a converted railroad bed that crosses amazing trestles  and goes through 9 tunnels, I believe. One of them is over a mile long. Now I am not excited about the tunnels, nor am I a lover of heights but for some reason I am excited about this bike ride. It conjures up memories of an idyllic day that Mark and I spent riding a trail that ended at Snoqualmie Falls. We didn't make the falls but we did cross a couple of amazing trestles and thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings. 

If I had a bucket list, this trip would be on it. When my dad died, he left each of us kids a small inheritance. I have been hoarding mine ever since. When his dad died, my grandfather, he left his son a small inheritance as well. My dad used it to take a trip to France which he was able to do because he knew a French family that he  stayed with thus lowering the cost substantially.  I determined early on that I wanted to do likewise except I wanted to visit some of the western national parks that I had heard so much about. 

Mark and I talked vaguely about the trip but it requires a lot of pre-planning months in advance and he was definitely more of a spontaneous person. I being the planner just never made it a priority caught up in teaching preschoolers and enjoying my grandkids. There was always this illusion of plenty of time. After our move to Aberdeen, we actively talked about doing it but by that time Mark's health was beginning to fail. Just the thought of all that driving and long days of sight seeing was too much. Instead we enjoyed the national park in our own backyard just a few hours north of us. Camping by a stream in the Olympic forests was idyllic. 

As all these various threads of thought roamed my brain this morning, I concluded that bucket lists serve the purpose of helping us formulate things that we want to do. But if we really want to do these things, we should actively pursue them NOW, make them happen. We all know that nothing about tomorrow is guaranteed but that is not how we live. We live as if their will be a future, there will always be later. Sometimes there isn't. 

I don't really have a bucket list and Mark had just one item on his-a trip to Alaska. We came so close to booking an Alaskan cruise just months before his passing. Once again declining health cautioned us against it. Then we rejoiced we hadn't when Covid hit along with lock downs and nightly news stories of passengers stranded on cruise ships. 

I do have my life which is empty of plans right now. The challenge of the day still remains what do I want to fill my remaining days doing, however many that may be. I know I want to write and paint and spend time with my family. If I really want to do the first two, as i am already doing the last, I need to start doing them now. Not some vague day in the future but today, tomorrow and the next day. Wish me luck as I start on this new adventure of creativity.