I haven't seen the movie Bucket List and it wasn't until I saw the first ads for it that I even heard the term.  Bucket List -- the things you want to do before you kick the bucket -- before you die.

A couple of months ago, a woman came to swim with the dolphins at the facility where I work.  She is in the 4th stage of cancer and knows she's terminal.  Swimming with dolphins was one of the things she'd always wanted to do, and she was determined to do it before she dies.  She visited full of spirit and light and ready to have fun.  I'm glad she experienced this dream.

A few years ago, the BBC in England polled the country's residents and asked them to name the things they most wanted to do before they died.  Swim with dolphins was #1 and there were so many other amazing experiences on the list -- places to visit, things to see, activities to do, you name it.

From time to time I think about things I'd like to do and I'm doing my best to wrap my brain around the list and get working on it now.  It seems a shame to me to wait until we know we're dying.  I'd like to focus on doing the things I want to do because they're experiences that I think will enrich my life.

Driving the Pacific Coast Highway; visiting Sicily, the land of my ancestors.  For no particular reason I can name, I want to be a contestant on a game show.  I want to write another book, learn to sail, go to Hawaii.  Oooh!  Then I could sail IN Hawaii!

There are so many things, it's almost overwhelming, but then I look at the things I've already done that were dreams when I was young.  I've swum with dolphins several times.  I've written two books.  I've been to Europe and South America.  I've been on a sailboat, even if I didn't sail it myself.  I've learned how to handle a power boat. 

So this is how I'm feeling tonight.  Appreciative for all the opportunities I've enjoyed; anticipation for the things ahead waiting to be experienced.  There's no reason that I can't do them all -- unless I don't make the effort.

I just need a different name for the list because Bucket list bothers me.  Look up the possible origins.  Two of the popular ones are pretty gruesome.  One theory says it relates to people commiting suicide by hanging themselves.  They stood on a bucket, slipped on the noose, tied the rope to a beam and then kicked the bucket.  *shudder*

The other theory describes hoisting up animals after their throats were slit -- much like one pulled up a bucket from a well.  The poor, dying animals kicked around a lot.

Accomplishing things I've always wanted to do is cause for celebration.  I'm not checking off things before I kick the bucket, I'm filling up my internal well with experiences.

So, maybe it's my Wellness list.

What do you call your list?  Better yet, what's on it?

I want to spend my last days on the ocean listening to the waves. That would be the perfect ending. Time slows down to nearly a stop each time the water pulls back from the sand and then it comes crashing back. We don't get that here in the Keys like we had further up the coast. I miss it.