Shell Shocked: Bucket list revisited
Ever since I saw the movie “The Bucket List” about two aging men who decide to try things they’ve never done before I made my own to do list.
As adventurous a life as my memory bank tells me I’ve had I also realize that there were many things I’d never done before. Among them are:
– I’ve never been in a war.
– I’ve never played the violin.
– I’ve never made love to Brigitte Bardot.
– I never threw a fast ball past Ted Williams.
– I’ve never been in a submarine.
– I’ve never been chased by a bear.
– I’ve never robbed a bank.
– I’ve never climbed Mount Everest.
– I was never mayor of New York.
– I’ve never been shot at.
– I’ve never been divorced.
– I never ran for public office.
– I never sky dived out of a plane.
– I never swam the English Channel.
– I’ve never had an audience with Queen Elizabeth.
– I never had my appendix removed.
– I’ve never been to India.
– I never won the Nobel Prize.
– I’ve never had my home broken into.
– I never won Publishing Clearing House millions.
– I never grew a beard or a mustache.
– I never collected stamps or coins or match books.
– I’ve never been to the moon.
– I never lived on the Bowery.
So much for those things I haven’t done. Now what about those things I actually did do.
– I had my tonsils removed.
– I’ve been to Des Moines, Iowa.
– I’ve been to the Bronx.
– I won a sixth-grade spelling bee.
– I played Nick Sherlock in the high school production of “The Mystery of Moldy Manor.”
– I played the “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano when I was twelve.
– I took a helicopter tour of Baltimore.
– I was once pick pocketed in a New York City office building elevator.
– I wandered through the Casbah in Marrakesh.
– I was once a teenager.
– I sang “Mairzy Doats and Dozy Doats” in my third-grade class.
– I read “The Amboy Dukes” when I was thirteen.
– I once tobogganed down a hill.
– I once bought a house on Sanibel.
There’s plenty left to be done. I can still dream about climbing Mount Everest while settling into a La-Z-Boy recliner with a glass of robust Cabernet.
Art Stevens is a long-time columnist for the Sanibel-Captiva Islander. His tongue-in-cheek humor is always offered with a smile.