The Bucket List

I've been accused of a lot of things during the course of my life by a lot of different people in all walks of life. After watching The Bucket List this evening, and spending that 2 hours perusing the various thoughts and emotions such a film provokes, it occurred to me that the central theme of all these accusations seems to be that I'm a rush junkie, that I have too many dangerous hobbies that put my family at risk. Somewhere around Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson's failed attempt to see Mt. Everest I realized that I could more properly be characterized as a life junkie. I would much rather spend the afternoon astride 170 ponies blazing a path through Ike's aftermath on route 70 than watching it from the cab of a Silverado. I would have missed the smell of the fajitas from the Mexican restaurant and the guy's pipe smoke wafting out of the old Cadillac. I would never have noticed the smell of the Mississippi river as we approached the arch. I would have missed the 6 year old girl drawing pictures in the steamed up back window of the SUV and her surprised face as she pointed at me and said, "Look Mommy it's a girl!" I would definitely miss the total satisfaction of having completed a particularly difficult rock climbing route, and the thrill of having the gunnels in the water on a particularly windy day at the lake. I would have missed (OK all you macho guys skip this part) being wrapped up in Tim's arms as he held us both tightly to the railing on the bleachers this weekend in the 60 mph gusts that finally ended the race. Maybe I am a rush junkie. Or maybe the real "rush" junkies are the ones rushing through life without ever experiencing it. So what's on my Bucket List you say? I've crossed off most of it: the marrying-my-best-friend one, the pilot's-license one, the fastest-production-motorcycle-in-the-world one, the spelunking and rock climbing and aerobatics ones. I add one and scratch one as I go through my life. Some have been there a while like the desire to see where my ancestors came from in Scotland and Ireland some day and some have only recently been added like the living-on-the-sailboat one. I guess in a way this blog is my Bucket List, the description of living life large. A "rush junkie" you say? Absolutely - I want to experience every sight, smell, taste, sound, and feel that my days have to offer, up close and personal.