Having already gone through two lengthy ones and thinking there was nothing else that I wished to do in life that was extraordinary or special, I took a break from the idea. In the past ten years I've gone on the Bike Across Kansas (twice), power parachuted (twice), driven all the way to Maine and back in the search for the Portland Head Light lighthouse, learned to swim well enough to save my own life (well kind of/sort of), seen the most beautiful sunrise and sunset in the world (many times as a matter of fact), visited the quaint and picturesque village of Owego, New York (twice), planned my own funeral and gravestone (haven't used that one yet), and the list goes on and on and on.
I've actually had a pretty good life.
All things considered, I wouldn't change one blooming thing.
Yet I wonder, is there anything left that I wouldn't like to try and do?
Yesterday I was looking at the age calculator on the social security website. It's a sobering place to visit if you haven't already done so. There you will find the best guesstimate as to how long a person born on any given date has yet to live. I knew mine was going to pop up sooner or later, but it takes quite a while to scroll down to the mid 1950's. There I was and the answer I was looking for kind of smacked me in the face a couple of dozen times.
It should have been of no surprise to me. I'm going to be 62 very soon and if I was looking for another 6 decades of life, I was searching in the wrong place. The number made me pause to think and reflect several times during the day, so much so that Mike and I had a conversation about it as we traveled back home from Altus.
Mike is very good at detecting when something is on my mind. We have only been married 4 1/2 years but when it comes to people, he's a very quick learner. So when he asked me what I was thinking, I admitted I had been pondering what life remains for me.
"Mike, the social security age calculator says I have only 24.6 years left to live. Can you believe that? Not even 25 years."
It didn't take long for him to shoot back a response.
"Well you better start a new bucket list then."
And he is right, like always. I guess I better start a new one.
Not really sure what it is yet that I would wish to do but I'll be thinking about it the days ahead and perhaps by my birthday at October's end, I will have a plan. With the good Lord above willing and for however many days are yet ahead of me, I still continue to strive to do one thing each day.
I plan to live life.
How about you?
I rode this bike on the Bike Across Kansas of 2011. In August of that very year, I had the bike accident that changed my life forever. It was my #1 thing to do on the very first bucket list I ever had. (ride on the BAK, NOT crash my bike)
Power parachuting was another item on the first and second bucket lists I had. Now THIS is something I'd consider doing again.
One ill fated item on the original bucket list of 2011 was to take a plane ride to Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Shortly after this picture was taken, the pilot realized that the battery was failing. I like to look at it as an omen or something.
Although it wasn't on any bucket list, I was glad for the day when "old lefty" returned to its new normal after my accident. It took nearly a year after this picture was taken in the fall of 2011 before I could turn both of my palms straight up. The scars tell the story.
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