Bucket List
When my parents were getting older, some of their long-standing friends began to die.
“Mom and I are going to have to make some new friends who are twenty years younger than we are,” my dad said. He was very pragmatic (a characteristic that he passed on to me).
And while he did indeed find younger friends, he also outlasted all of them – because he lived to be 104.
This morning, a close friend of ours for 50 years, shared that she has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Her doctor told her that she between has six months and a year to live. There is an old joke in which the patient says to his doctor, “I won’t even be able to pay off your bill in six months.” The doctor replies, “All right. Then I’ll give you a year.”
But all joking aside, when a friend has limited time – we are reminded that it is more important than ever to appreciate every minute. Our friend has already begun to put her affairs in order and wants to spend more time with Daveen and me over the next months. I’m glad she is giving us that chance. No doubt, we will all appreciate each other more, now that we have a deadline. As in the song “Big Yellow Taxi” reminds us, “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”
Of course, during the past 28 months of COVID we haven’t been able to visit with our old friends, let alone new ones. And yet, more than ever I find myself contemplating, how can I squeeze more awareness into each minute of my life? I’m not sure. I’m reminded of the 2007 movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Unlike them, I’ve already completed my bucket list, and more. As my dad used to say during his last 20 years, “I give thanks for every new day. It’s a bonus.”
Is your bucket list half full, or half empty? How are you choosing to live your life? Years ago, Daveen and I were planning to vacation in Hawaii. A friend suggested we fly first class. “If you don’t use your money to fly first class today, one day your children will.” Ouch! That might be true. We flew first class.
I’m tired of putting my “regular” life on hold for Covid. So, Daveen and I are off to San Diego for a weekend getaway. We plan to see Taming of the Shrew at the Old Globe Theater, and then relax and watch an NBA game in our room the next night.
Hopefully, we’ll all soon be out and about, adding check marks to our bucket list. None of us has forever.
Alan