The Bucket List - *Revisited and Revised*

... or ... "phew, I got these out of the way ... so what's next?"

My friends and I always made these lists, long before the movie. We often played a sort of game that involved writing your own obituary, or coming up with a list of things you might want to be remembered for. Some of the things on my list seemed well, sort of boring or perhaps a little bland, while others seemed well nigh impossible. But, I am happy to report, that I have managed, over the course of 25 years, to strike some of the entries off my list. It was only when I realized that in fact, I had managed, between long "dry spells" to get to quite a few of my bucket goals, that I really began to understand the power of writing things down and visualizing the results.

So here is an incomplete run-down of a few goals that I can safely strike from the list:

1. Learn to type (seriously, I was over 30 when I learned to type without looking at the keys!)

2. Live in the Caribbean for a year (well the actual job lasted a full 12 months, but I travelled back and forth from Canada to St. Kitts and Nevis several times, so maybe my cumulative time on island was more like 7 months. I think it still counts, right?! If not, no problemo, I'll just go back and wrap this one up a little tighter.)

3. Get over my fear of flying (see #2 - hmm, you're not suggesting that this fear is what led to the demise of my short-lived tropical live/work adventure?)

4. Visit London and Paris, and throw in a return to Rome (still not over fear of flying when I did this.)

5. Have a chat with Mona Lisa while accomplishing #4

6. Get over my fear of driving (yep, I actually learned to drive around the same time I learned to type. Sad, but true.)

7. Go back to school for Social Work degree

8. Buy a house (single females are still underrepresented in the housing market)

9. Go back to school yet again for Graduate Social Work degree (MSW)

10. Sell the dam house and start travelling again!

11. Get braces and fix that painful bite once and for all (and get a beautiful smile in the process! Hopefully, a beautiful smile - the result are yet to be determined as braces only went on a few months ago!!)

12. Go back to St. Kitts after 16 year absence, for my big "milestone" birthday (Ok, who am I kidding keeping it a secret - it was the Big 5-OH!) .

I'll stop here for now. Number 11 was a few years ago. I am now coming up to a "half milestone" in a few months, and I am definitely feeling the urge to celebrate. Except, I am not sure where I will go or what I actually want to do to mark the occassion. I may put off this celebration for 6 months and pull out all the celebratory stops next June when I go to my graduation ceremony. Why they make us wait so long, I just don't know. We'll be done with internship in early December, so it seems like such a long wait to collect that diploma. Why can't they just confer it by mail in February - a Valentines Diploma! Certainly that scroll will have much more significance for me than roses and chocolates. Or have a separate off-campus ceremony. If my classes were several hundred miles away from the school, why can't they do the ceremony where the classes were actually held? Besides, the University of Windsor is in, well, Windsor. With no disrespect meant towards the citizens of that lovely town, it really is not where I envision doing my big semi-milestone birthday - slash - graduation celebration. Seriously, if you were in my shoes, would you really want to spend this momentous ocassion in the city above Detroit?

Hmmm, as I look at what to modify, delete from and add to my bucket list, a thought occurs -- I have never actually attended any of my graduation ceremonies. Not high school. Not university -- for either of my first two degrees. So, perhaps this is as good a place as any to start my new and improved bucket list - either #12 on this page ... or #1 on my yet to be accomplished page ... Go to my grad school grad!! Since I will be joining the mere 2 percent of the population who successfully complete their masters degrees, I believe I have much to celebrate.

At a time when others are thinking of early retirement, I am launching the second half of my second career (and you thought I did that 2 years ago when I quit my job and started my own business, huh?!)

But you know what is really pressing on my mind today? Just like so many younger folks, my big worry right now is: 1) will I find the right shoes to wear under those gawd-awful robes?

And 2) more importantly, will my braces come off on time for the graduation ceremony?