Bucket List
So Oldest Daughter has a new goal. Study her junior year at a conservatory in England--all year. And then spend a semester in Pau, France, also studying abroad through an exchange program at her school. These are phenomenal goals. And I thought back to college, and frankly, I didn't have the guts to just decide to leave my life here and go away for a whole year, without being able to come home and see my family.
I was afraid.
Fear has such power, doesn't it? It can make you not send out your manuscript. It can hold you back from your goals. It can keep you from telling that special someone you're in love with them UNTIL they've told YOU. Fear of rejection, right? It can keep us from careers we want. From scaling mountains.
Baby Girl wants to climb Kilamanjaro. She also has the foresight to, when she dies, want her ashes scattered from a mountain peak. Yes, she's 10 and thinks of these things.
I want her to be fearless. Go ahead and climb the mountain.
So it got me thinking about my Bucket List (from the movie) . . . those things I want to do before I die. I want to go here. But beyond that, my list isn't very long. Of course, I'd love to run off with him. I mean, he's on the list. But most things I want to do and study and experience, I have. And those I haven't . . . I have too.
That's the blessing of being a writer. If I want to travel abroad, I do--as a character. If I want to try my hand at fighting crime . . . get to do that. Be a doctor? Sure. Be a singer? Have you heard my voice? But HER voice . . . sublime.
So tell me, how does being a writer affect your list . . . and what makes YOUR Bucket List?
18 comments:
I don't like to think about dying. Death has been too much a part of my life.
But, in my life I want to be a published author with a book on the bookshelves. That is my dream, my goal.
I want to send two amazing offspring into the world as adults who can stand on their own two feet and contribute to society.
My Bucket List is light, but large. Sometimes it's contents do scare me. Self talk sometimes helps. Sometimes chocolate helps. Unfortunately when the fear is rampant, the writing goes by the wayside.
It's a struggle.
living by the ocean someday is on my list. Beyond that, I'm doing most of what I want to do right now.
Hi Amy:
Yes, light but large. That's a great way to look at those beautiful dreams.
E
zoe:
I sometimes dream of moving to a little place in Manhattan for a while. Ocean would be nice, too.
E
I guess the Bucket List comes about in feeling you won't be complete without doing them. In that respect, I want to see my sons grow up and have fullfilling, rich, independent lives.
That would be fine. I would be complete.
Now, all that other stuff...
Mark:
I think it goes without saying I want my kids to grow up to be healthy and happy. I think, if you saw the movie, much of it was about those things you just LONG for in your heart to do--see the pyramids, skydive, whatever it is. Those secret and not-so-secret longings to live BIGGER somehow.
E
I've always wanted to live in another country. Mexico wasn't really on the short list, but it's shown me I CAN do it. Someday Spain...
melanie:
I know . . . I am filled with admiration that my daughter has no fear about going away.
E
I want to wander the Earth, like Cain in that show Kung Fu.
But I want to do it in one of these.
Jude:
That would be very cool!
E
I want to live with DH full-time in an RV and permanently travel the country, and write a couple hundred stories. At least 100 of them a novella and longer.
That's all I can think of.
Hey Erica, I love your bucket list place to visit! My bucket list would be beach house, spiritual retreats sprinkled throughout the year, and writing my stories into the sunset; all of which make it to the shelf. And having my family in that beach house as much as possible...summers, holidays, whenever!
I did a Bucket List post in February after I saw the movie and if I remember rightly, I wanted to visit Machu Picchu and to skydive. I have travelled extensively but never got to South America because it is not on the way back to family in Italy. I will have to make a determined effort to take us off route one year. I wrote a kind of bucket list about ten years ago when I was flat on my back following a slipped disc and I found it a few months ago. I was amazed at how many I had achieved. Just writing it down seems to help.
my bucket list... well, for starters it would probably have to include never never never getting on another damned plane again :)
But there are things I want to do:
- Publish at least one novel, hopefully many more than that.
- Visit Ireland - sort of begs the question about how much I don't want to fly.
- Run an Ultra-marathon (50 miler)
- Play guitar on stage and do it well.
- Create a "Be Love" even to raise money for children's causes like health, family, home, etc.
I think I have already done most of the things that are important to me in my life.
spy:
That sounds like a grand aventure.
E
ladonna:
That sounds awesome. Really a lovely ideal.
E
suzanne:
I don't have any huge travel ideas for mine. I always find I am happiest at home. But there is a desire to go to Alaska before global warming destroys it all.
E
Hi Ewoh:
Cool list! I would like to see Ireland--preferably with Bono. :-)
E
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