Bucket list

At the very top of my friend’s bucket list, he quotes Mark Twain -

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do that by the ones that you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

My friend went through some kind of personal event about half a year ago and it triggered in him an impulse to do everything. Carpe diem. He came up with a bucket list. The concept is not new. Indeed, it is borrowed from an endearing movie by the same name. People also build things like lists of places to see before you die. There are so many lists out there.

When I tell this story, people have asked me if I have a list. In the past 6 months, I have been doing things as if I have a list. But I don’t have a list, and I thought about why.

My friend’s list does not inspire me; my friend’s attitude does. My friend inspires me because he is doing the list. He is making plans, getting out there, doing stuff, checking them off the list. No pants subway ride. Done. Sailing. Done. Marathon. Scheduled and training hard. It’s only been 6 months, but so many items are checked off or in progress. And the list continues to grow.

The point is not to make a list and finish it. Really, so many people have lists. The point is to choose adventure, pursue those roads that will push you and stretch you and occasionally drive you a little crazy. Don’t try to do it by the time you’re 30 or 50 or 80. Just start doing it now and choose it every day.

So I don’t need a bucket list, but I want a bucket list attitude. I want to search for things that should be on my list, and I want to say yes to every opportunity to make them happen.

That is why today, to fulfill row #22 of my friend’s bucket list, a group of 11 of us went skydiving. I jumped out of a plane. I fell from 13,500 feet. I got to parachute through a cloud. There was a circular rainbow far below us, and I could see our shadow floating through the middle of it. Simply. Breathtaking.

If you have a fear of heights, consider getting over it and getting into a jumpsuit.

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