A Bucket List that's Already Been Done

A few weeks ago I received an email from Momma D. The subject line read "Bucket List". It included a list to check off and pass on to friends. It got me thinking that what makes a bucket list special are the specific details of an individual's experience.

Though you can plan a trip to the Grand Canyon, you can never plan the little things that will happen along the way that make the trip uniquely yours. The unexpected details make life's treasures. So I thought I'd make my personal Bucket List with a twist. Here are a few things I've already done that I never could have planned ahead of time. (Thank goodness!)

Dandelion Photo from Racey Tay

Becky's Been There Bucket List:


Learn how to knit, make one hideous scarf and give up. X

Take to the wide skies of New Mexico during the Balloon Fiesta. Watch the giant plumes of silk fabric billow and fluff with hot air against the perfectly crisp blue sky on an early October morning. Enjoy a champagne toast and practical joke as an uninitiated afterwards. X

Go to Rocky Horror Picture Show in black sequined hot pants. Don't let anyone know it's your first time. Sing along at the top of your lungs, even though you don't know any of the lyrics. X

Receive the perfect bottle of perfume as a gift. X

Sample Blood Sausage in the Austrian countryside in a vineyard dappled with softly fading daylight. Spread it on thick brown rye bread like pate. Sip on green wine from the vines surrounding you. Surprise yourself by liking it, despite the horror of your American cohorts. X

Hear a loon's eerie cry across a mirror smooth lake just as the sun rises. X

Fill your passport with stamps. X

Then get another and start again. X

Learn the harmony to the star spangled banner. Use it. X

Get gum in your hair. Let your mother slather butter on it and painstakingly comb it out. Thank her years later in a blog post. X

Go to the Louvre. Ignore the guidebooks. Look at only what interests you and leave when you are tired. X

Wander through a butterfly pavilion with little ones. Watch them marvel at tiny things which are exactly at their eye level. Scrunch down with them and look there too. X

Try poi. At least two bites. X

Never save champagne for a special occasion. X

Change the oil in your car yourself at least once. From then on, leave the hassle to the pros. X

Run a small business. X

Have a pedicure with a girlfriend every month or so. Catch up on gossip and trashy magazines. Get a bruise from the mean old massage chair and remember to leave it off next time. X

Attempt to make a preposterous French Dessert at home. Cheat a little. Serve with drama. X

Suck it in to get that vintage dress with the teeny tiny waist to zip. Don't stay in it too long and whatever you do, don't sit down. X

Walk along a grassy, windswept cliff with the ocean crashing on one side and a towering clifftop forest on the other. Stand beside your best friend as she pledges her life to a charming ginger headed hippie. Hear their vows to one another. See thier lives intertwining. Think about how love is the most difficult, refining fire in the world. Go ahead and cry. X