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| Photo by Petr Kratochvil, courtesy of Public Domain Pictures |
I was honored to receive several Kreativ Blogger awards recently, and today I'd like to thank those who passed them along to me: Danielle at Sweet Tea Reads, Ermie at Just Ermie, and Jaycee at Jaycee DeLorenzo's Blog. Click on the links to learn about them and their great blogs!
Since I've already answered the questions associated with this award and have subjected you all to many random facts, today I'm going to do something different and share some items from my bucket list.
This August I will celebrate one of the "big" birthdays, and I've really started to realize as I've gotten older that no one knows how much time he or she has on this earth. I've kept a bucket list for years--all those things I want to do before I die--but I haven't done many of the things on it. My young self felt like there would always be time; my older self, however, knows better, and lately I've been more earnest in my pursuit of the things I want to accomplish.
I'm inspired by the last two lines in "The Summer Day," a poem by Mary Oliver:
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
In response, here are just twenty-five of the things I plan to do with my "one wild and precious life":
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| Image courtesy of Justyna Furmanczyk, rgbstock.com |
1. send a message in a bottle
2. sponsor a child
3. write a children's book
4. see the fall foliage in New England
5. write a letter to each of my children, telling them what I want them to know about my life and the lessons I've learned
6. read the entire Bible
7. sing karaoke
8. own (or at least try on) a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes
9. have my own writing space, perhaps even rent a studio
10. see the midnight sun in Norway
11. finish my family history memoir
12. inspire someone to follow his or her dreams
13. visit the Louvre
14. write an inspiring note and leave it somewhere for a stranger to find
15. go to Alaska and Hawaii
16. take a 365-day challenge
17. go back to New York City, a place where I feel alive
18. attend a Billy Graham Crusade
19. recite my poems at a poetry reading
20. publish a book
21. eat at one of Tom Colicchio's restaurants
22. learn how to paint
23. grow a bonsai tree
24. see the Avenue of the Giants
25. study art history
I've got a lot of work to do!
In one of my travels around the Internet, I came across a site where people publish their bucket lists. I plan to start an account and publish my entire list there soon.
And finally, although I haven't seen it myself, I've heard many good things about The Bucket List, a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. A user on YouTube, NixSeraph, created a montage of scenes from the movie and set them to singer Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying." I found the video to be very inspiring. I hope you do as well.
So tell me, friends, what will you do "with your one wild and precious life?" What's on your bucket list?
*Quotes from Mary Oliver's "The Summer Day"
Publish a book and scuba dive in Greece are on top of mine. :)
ReplyDeleteGreece would be beautiful! I'd love to visit, but no scuba diving for me. I'm not much of a water fan. :)
DeleteI don't have a bucket list yet. I'm still (just about) in the 'there'll be plenty of time' mindset. Maybe I'll write one as I get older, but at the moment there's SO much stuff I haven't done yet that my list would be mahoosive.
ReplyDelete(Mahoosive = 10 x massive)
I love that word! :)
DeleteYou have a great list...some travel, some creative exertions, some purchases, some charity, some reading. Lovely. I hope you are able to accomplish all of them! What is the BIG number this August? (my b-day is the 28th.) You don't look a day over 29. :-)
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks!
DeleteI'll be a little older than that. ;)
Have a family of my own :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful video - and puts such a positive spin on something that would usually be seen as negative.
I agree with you about the video. It could be so sad, but it's not. It's hopeful.
DeleteYou have a great goal! I'm so happy that I have my family. :)
Congrats on the award and what an awesome list! I want to travel all over the world too. Yet, realistically, I think roadtrips are all I'll ever be able to afford. I have a big birthday coming up this October as well. It feels weird. I only feel like I'm in my late-20's!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Christine! I don't know if I'll ever be able to do much more than road trips either, but traveling as much as possible is still a goal.
DeleteI also don't feel as old as I am. :)
Some of yours are things I'd love to do. Some I've already done (read the Bible through and done something all the way for 365 days... well I'll have done it in 17-- blog every day for a year).
ReplyDeleteI think you have a great list! Have fun with it
Thanks--and congrats a little early on meeting your blogging goal! I don't think I'm far behind you on that one. I'll have to go back and check. :)
DeleteOh wow! I have never written or even thought about writing a bucket list--even after seeing the movie (which I loved, BTW). Maybe I should think about one. Loved yours!! :):)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to watch the movie!
DeleteThanks, Rita. :)
I don't have a bucket list, Dana. But you have inspired me to create one. :)
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear what you include. :)
Deletei love what you did with this award, dana--and you have inspired me, with my poetry--i may even write a collection, thanks to you! and we are planning a poetry night at our church coffee house--would love to have you there reading---great bucket list!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're working on your poetry again. :) Regarding the poetry night: I wish I could be there.
DeleteThanks, Lynn!
You've got a lot of stuff to do. Get cracking!
ReplyDeleteI want to make sure I publish quite a few books before I die. And, own one all black cat and one all white cat. I sound so random, lol.
LOL And this is only a small part of the actual list. ;)
DeleteI love your goals! The cat one is great--very fun. :)
those are pretty cool things to do and i am on board with many!
ReplyDeletelike karaoke and a poetry reading in nyc! how bout it!
Definitely!
DeleteVery inspiring! I was fortunate to accomplish #13. It was wonderful and I really hope you get a chance to cross that off your list.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to hear about your experience sometime!
DeleteWe share a few things on our lists that I haven't done...a few things I have accomplished are climbing Mt. Whitney (highest peak in the continental U.S. 14,505') and hiking to the lowest point in the continental U.S, Badwater in Death Valley -282' and running a marathon. Hoping to climb Half Dome this summer. The goal is to keep adding to the list each time you cross soemthing off.
ReplyDeleteHappy Saturday!
You've done some really great things. Congrats! :)
DeleteHave a wonderful day.
Enjoyed reading your bucket list with what you want to do; it is sobering when one realizes one will not live forever (this side of eternity at least).
ReplyDeleteIt is so "doable" to read the Bible in its entirety. First time I read it through (had read bits and pieces but never the entire book) I had a reading plan our church put out; it took two years to read through the Old Testament and one year through the New Testament (so you re-read the New Testament the second year). They broke it out in chapters with readings daily for the Old and New Testament, 10 minutes tops. People get bogged down thinking to do it in a year and then they fall behind and never catch up so I always discourage that; I believe 10-15 minutes daily and before you know it, you've read it all :)
One Christmas I got the inspiration from God to write a letter to each family member, mom, siblings, their spouses, my nieces/nephew about how much I appreciated them, their strengths, etc. I'm so glad I did that; I got feedback of how much the letters were appreciated; it was the last Christmas my mom was alive :)
I bet you would be a great mentor to inspire someone!!
Most on your list seems so doable!! Enjoy exploring and doing what you can in the years ahead!
My bucket list.....honestly it might sound so trite but really all I really, really, really want is for my son to truly grasp how fantastically wonderful God is and to be on fire for him and to shake his world for God :)
betty
Thanks for the Bible-reading tips. I've looked at some reading plans like that. Yours sounds like exactly what I need since I don't have huge pockets of time to work with.
DeleteYour letter idea sounds beautiful and very special.
Thanks for your kind words!
I think your bucket list is wonderful. I want the same for my kids.
Have a wonderful Sunday, Betty. :)
Great list, Dana! I think I need to start doing more lists. Perhaps it would inspire me to try something new!
ReplyDeleteI love lists, and having a bucket list I can read (and one that's not just written in my mind) inspires me to go after my goals. :)
DeleteThe Bucket List is a great movie!! I love the list that you made. Honestly though, I believe that if you try to fully live each day, and live in the moment you will have a full life :)
ReplyDeleteAndrea
That's a wonderful way to look at life! :)
DeleteGreat list! I love the idea of writing space, that sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteWhat an inspirational post! I've thought about bucket lists, but haven't actually written much down.. well, I've written goals down and accomplished some already, so I guess that's sort of the same thing. I've run a 10K run (a blast!), ran a half marathon (well, I did some walking). I've written a book and self-published it (a NaNoWriMo novel published by Lulu.com)- that was a rush! :) I want to do some short term missions work (what a great way to see the world!). I'm going to seriously think about actually writing a list. Like That Corgi!, nothing matters more to me than that my kids follow God with their whole heart. Everything else is gravy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! You've accomplished some amazing things. :)
Deletethat's a great list! Alaska is on my list too
ReplyDeleteGreat list! Which one are you going to do first?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI'm not 100 percent sure I can go, but the Billy Graham Crusade will be in my area in the next couple of weeks. If I can find a babysitter, I'm there! :)