Bucket Lists

One of the blogs I follow had a recent post about Bucket Lists. You know, those lists of things to do before we die? Katie made a point about making the lists when you’re still healthy and have plenty of life left in which to accomplish these things. I decided to do that. It's not a long list, but it doesn't have to be. Here's my list:

1) Finish and find a publisher for The Circle. I wont give up on this one. I've put far too many manuscripts aside and said "maybe I'll work on you later" but I won't do it again. I love The Circle. I will finish it. I will write it.
2) Learn how to french braid. Silly, right? I know. But when I was little my mom would french braid my hair and it made me feel like a princess. I've always wanted to learn how to do it, but I never have.
3) Sing karaoke. Another silly one. I don't know why I even want this so badly, but I do.
4) Build (or rebuild) my own home. I find old houses amazing. You can blame my dad for that one. But even still, I want to have a part of me "in" the house. I want it to be "my" home, and to do that, I need to build or re-build it. I need to put some effort into making it my own.
5) Take my sisters on vacation somewhere amazing. Mostly, just because I love them and they deserve it. I don't know where I would take them. Maybe somewhere in Europe. Maybe a cruise. Maybe a long road trip around the country. But I will take them somewhere. It might be in a few years, or it might be when they are 30 and have families of their own, but someday, we will go somewhere special. I wont die until I have.
6) Win some sort of prize. This one seems silly too, but it's not really. I've won before, won games, won contests, won praise, won recognition. But I've never actually won a prize. I think winning something that I can hold in my hand would be awesome.
7) Do more volunteering. Some of my greatest memories are in the basement where I volunteer around Christmas time to help sort presents for kids who wouldn't otherwise be having much of a holiday. I also used to volunteer in a nursing home. I loved that. The residents were some of the most interesting people I met. Maybe because they were raised in a very different world than I was. I want to do more volunteering, but it MUST be something with other people. I like doing things for people, but I also like to be social. I'm pretty shy around strangers. At least if we were volunteering together I would have something to say to them.
8) (I added this one a bit late) Get involved in some sort of cheerleading. I am no longer in good enough shape to cheer (and my that I mean, I get winded going up two flights of stairs). Not to mention I'm ridiculously out of practice. And you know what, even at my peak, I still wasn't the greatest. I highly doubt I'll be able to cheer in college. But that doesn't mean I can't do something. Maybe I can find out what kind of certifications are required for (assistant) coaching? Or hey, maybe it is possible for me to get back in cheer shape. I doubt it, but anything is possible, right?

I encourage anyone who reads my blog to do just what Katie did, and what I just did. Post a link, if you write a Bucket List of your own. I'd love to see what other people want to do. It doesn't have to be long or detailed, or even anything hard to do. It just has to be something. THEN, the trick is to actually do it.
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Photo Credit: Bucket by mai05 from sxc.hu (cropped)