This post is a fun one 🙂 Coming into the New Year many people make resolutions and promises to themselves to make one change or another. I have never been big on them because it works better for me to make a change in the present and to set goals with plans to achieve them throughout the year, instead of “resolutions”. However, one thing I do is look at my bucket list, written years ago in an old journal I have. It is the culmination of goals, dreams, and simple plans of a teenage girl and young adult. And I look to see which, if any, of these thing I have crossed off the list, or if I can go after any of them in the year ahead. For fun, here is my bucket list transcribed from my old journal, with the items I have been able to cross off and those still to come. Some are quite insane and some are so simple you would laugh at putting them on a bucket list! It reminds me that as life changes and we grow older and more responsible, or try to fit the mold of adult life, there were those things a young crazy kid wanted and there is no reason that should change as the years go on. I’ve got a whole life to cross these items off the list!
My bucket list
Watch Tommy Boy
Ride a galloping horse through a field
Kayak down the New River in WV
Run London and Berlin Marathons
In fact, run ALL of the World Major Marathons
Become fluent in a foreign language (preferably Spanish, maybe German)
Take dance lessons (tango or salsa) (Tango in Argentina, Dance Class in college)
Run the trails of Iguazu Falls with my future husband
Visit Athens and the Parthenon in Greece (June 2012)
Meet Anne Rice and, if I am lucky, get a personal note and autograph
Attend Mardi Gras or the Vampire Convention in New Orleans
Go snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef
Buy something with a stone wheel on the island of Yap
Have some of my poetry published
Own a lemur, loris, or a monkey (not at the same time)
Ride my bike across the state of Ohio with my Dad
Travel in Germany with my parents (September 2012 and August 2014)
Go back to Stuttgart, Germany to see where I was born (December 2016)
Read every JD Salinger book and story
Read every Anne Rice novel
Own every Rush album ever recorded
See Metallica in concert (June 2014 – Nuremberg!)
Learn to play the guitar or the drums
Visit every park of Disney World, Orlando
Coach a youth basketball or softball team
Attend an Ohio State vs *ichigan Game (THE GAME) (November 2016 – we won!)
Skydive and/or bungee jump
Acquire my mother’s recipe collection
Go on a service trip to South America
Earn at least a Master’s Degree (Coming May 2018!)
Eat Vegemite in Australia
Go snowboarding without face planting
Hike on the Appalachian Trail (not the whole thing) (November 2011)
Smoke with a Rastafarian in Jamaica
Tour Italy with my best friend
Play Avenged Sevenfold at my Wedding (“Warmness on the Soul” 10-10-15)
Invite Geddy Lee to meet my father
Drink Absinthe in Europe (the Good Stuff) (multiple occasions ;-))
Run a sub-12:00 two-mile on my APFT (November 2015 – 11:55)
Learn Konstantine on the Piano
Own a Smoothie Stand
Run naked in the rain
See one of my friend’s join the Peace Corps since I joined the Army (Katie went to Mali and the DR)
Have my own vegetable garden with mostly tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers
Hike the Inca Trail (August 2016 – with Jeremy!)
Develop my own Salsa Recipe
Get a Personal Painting from Kristen Alpaugh (been a long time coming haha)
I hope you had a laugh reading. Feel free to comment with any questions about my wacky items! Do you have a bucket list? What are some of your bucket list items? If not, I hope you think about writing one!
-Shaina
