W is for...

WHEN?

As in the big when. (You know.  When you, yes you, are going to die.) I'd bet a dollar that if you are relatively healthy and under forty you haven't given your own personal "when" much thought.  If you're anything like me, you think your when will happen way off in the future, like at the age of ninety-nine-and-a-half.  We've all seen the t-shirt or the card or the saying...

 

But really, how many of us actually do that?  I don't know about you, but if it really was my last day, I would  go do something totally kick ass.  So what is preventing me from donning a superhero outfit and fighting crime  for a day or bungee jumping off a really tall bridge?

Fear.

Yep, fear.  Because what if it really wasn't my last day?  What if I get thrown in the slammer doing something stupid like wearing a superhero costume outside of the Wells Fargo waiting for someone to rob it?  Or for bungee jumping off that really tall bridge and I break my leg and I've got a $5000 deductible on my insurance and no money to pay for the emergency room visit?  Then what?

I'll tell you what.  You'll have fun and you'll have a story to tell.  (Speaking of stories to tell, have you heard of Story Corps? Check it out!) Some of my best experiences have come out of facing a fear.  And if you quiet your mind and think about it for a moment, I know you are afraid of something.  It could be flying, talking to that one person who really makes your heart race or going to the movies alone.  But there's something.  The only way to get over a fear is to go through it.

Okay, okay, maybe your not a total wimp like me.  Maybe you're one of those super brave types who is over forty and has no fear of attending a movie like Twilight by themselves among mostly squealing teenage girls.  

So, what haven't you done that you're dying to do? 

Jump out of a plane?  Run with the bulls?  Cage dive with sharks?  Eat pastries in Paris?  Audition for American Idol?  Whatever it is, write it down, or better yet go here and do it online.

Or share it here.  I love to see what people are dying to do.

I'll start.  I want to jump on Oprah Winfrey's couch.

Okay, now you go.

The Bucket List

My sister-in-law's father died last year.  His passing caused her to compose a bucket list.  For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a list of things that you want to accomplish before you die, or "kick the bucket."  Some of the things she put on her list-- skydiving, riding in a hot air balloon, and river rafting.  On her Facebook page, after inquiring that I wanted to see her list and why, she replied "I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of not living."

This got me to thinking about things I wanted to do or see by the time I die.  I couldn't create a list.  I think it's because I pretty much do everything I've wanted to do, much to the chagrin or annoyance of the people who know me.  I've gone skydiving, but it wasn't a big wish of mine.  I kind of got dragged along with my sister.  I had a blast and was going to pursue diving solo, but then the guy that I did my first tandem jump with died a couple of weeks after my first jump.  He was doing a tandem jump with a woman celebrating her birthday.  That incident pretty much sealed the deal that I didn't want to risk my life for that rush of adrenaline.  I'd always have my first jump and the memory of how awesome that felt.

Traveling?  Sure, there are places I'd like to go, but I wouldn't feel that my life was any less rich because I hadn't seen the pyramids in Egypt or the Great Barrier Reef.  I'd love to spend a summer in Europe, but being the realist that I am, it's probably not going to happen until Publisher's Clearing House shows up at my door, or I pick the winning lotto numbers.

I'd love to publish a book and also get my screenplay sold and made into a kick ass movie.  BUT, those wishes are dependent on the fickle whims of anonymous people.  I'm trying to accomplish those things, but I can't make them happen.  I can only try.  And I do try.  I try a lot.  Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you.  I'm a determined person.  Kind of like a pit bull, only nicer.

So, if you click on the title link, it will take you to a web page where you can compose your own bucket list.

I'd love for you to share some of your dreams with me right here.  It's okay to comment.  I won't bite.