My Bucket List

I have never really thought about what I want to do before I die. I always apparently thought I would live forever and the future would unfold nicely without my intercession. So, now that I realize I like am indeed mortal, maybe it is time to do some planning. This summer, my husband and I went to Alaska, which would have been high on a list if I had one. Here’s what’s left:

• Climb the mountain by our Colorado cabin, the East Spanish Peak. I was training to do this when I got cancer, and got ever so slightly off track. So, no more excuses. I need to at least try this year.

• Go to Machu Picchu.  The first time I saw pictures of those amazing ruins decades ago, I imagined myself climbing among them.

• Paint more. I used to paint and draw and enjoyed it, but got caught up with other things. In the closet of my home office, I have three small canvasses and a batch of paints all ready to go. Ellen and her husband got me excellent brushes for my 60th birthday. I used them when I was going through treatment and created a truly awful painting. I would like to do one that is not awful.

• Go to Yellowstone. In September when the crowds narrow.

• Spend more time with the people who are important to me—my husband, kids, siblings, nieces and nephews and friends.

• Move someplace with better weather.

• Go to Cinque Terra.  

• Sail Croatia’s Dalmation Coast.  

• Beef up the solar on our cabin.

• Learn CPR.

• Remain in a chorus of some sort.

• Start a compost pile.

• Sew something on my new sewing machine.

That’s it for now. I want to be sort of reasonable.