In the film “The Bucket List”, two terminally ill characters played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman decide to go on a road trip to see and experience things before they kick the bucket. Some of the items on their list are seeing the Taj Mahal, racing cars, climbing the Great Pyramid and sky diving.
I started my Bucket List many years ago. I’ve probably seen or done over a hundred items on the list since then but I also keep adding to the list. After all, what would I do after I completed the list? Maybe I'd rest but I kind of like the line written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora: “Until I'm 6 feet under baby I don't need a bed, gonna live while I'm alive, I'll sleep when I'm dead”.
My list includes over 50 places left to see in the U.S. alone and also includes some goals. Here are my top things to see and do in no particular order before I kick the bucket:
1. See 100 foreign countries. I have 30 more to go.
2. Donate 15 gallons of blood. I have a little over 4 gallons to go.
3. Attend a Super Bowl game. They only issue about 500 pairs of tickets at around $1,800/pair and you have to be picked in the lottery for a chance at these. Otherwise, you have to pay many times face value.
4. See the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. In November 1990, I went to India after trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal. I couldn’t get from New Delhi to Agra because there was a curfew in Agra due to riots between Hindus and Moslems. I tried the train one day and flying the next day but wasn’t allowed in. If I had been there one day earlier, I would have seen the Taj Mahal. Timing is everything!
5.Visit the observation deck of the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At over 800 metres (2625 feet) and more than 160 stories, Burj Dubai holds the following records: tallest building in the world; tallest free-standing structure in the world; highest number of stories in the world; highest occupied floor in the world; highest outdoor observation deck in the world; elevator with the longest travel distance in the world; tallest service elevator in the world.
6. Finish a wooden ship model of the U.S.S. Constitution I started in 1986. Considering all the complicated and minute rigging, I’ll need to do this before my eyesight is gone!
7. See Pompeii and Herculaneum. I’ve been to Italy but not to either of these incredible archeological sites. Today, over six million people live around the base of Mt. Vesuvius and unfortunately for them, it will erupt again someday.
8. Bowl a perfect 300 game in a USBC-sanctioned league. I stopped bowling for 17 years because of my back problems and in my second year after starting league bowling again, I bowled my highest game of 259 (missed a 300 by 2 strikes). My dad bowled a 300 game when he was 70 so I figure there's still a chance for me to do it.
9. Take a space flight when they are finally offered to us common folks. I'll have to hit the lottery before I could afford it plus the waiting list will be a mile long. Oh well...one can dream!