The Bucket List……..

Me thinks we all oughta compose our list. Of course, dependent upon our age - the “I wanna”s will be diverse and different. You 20-something punks might add “to give my child(ren) the best possible upbringing I can.”.. 30-somethings might add “to plan my money and my career well, to get the hell out of it by the time I’m 50-something.”

40-somethings might add “to see Europe, a Caribbean cruise - Alaska..”

Now, I’m in the 50-something bracket. The scope changes a bit. We’re ready to get the hell out of whatever work environment we’re in - and, I wasn’t a Boy Scout - so I didn’t really plan ahead - so it’s much like doing an all-niter before a brutal college final. Ain’t no way - so - go with what ya got.

I wanna:

See Cooperstown. Baseball was/is sucha big part of my life. I dreamed the dreams as a youth - magic-markered “Musial” on the backa my T-shirt as a kid… Did my own “play-by-play” in the living room time and time again as I’d make a sliding one-handed diving catch across the carpet. Why I even got invited to tryout for the Kansas City Royals back in the dinosaur days - I was a kernel of popcorn amidst the others, and I didn’t pop.

Take a year off, and just ‘go’, ‘do’. Head East to see NYC, and to see if the perceived “back East folks are grumpy shits” rings true. Eyeball where the Twin Towers were - grasp a better feel of our country and what it stands for… take in the Statue of Liberty - and try to imagine what it was like for my ancesters when they landed in the new land so long ago.. bootscoot across the Northern US, taking in the 4 dead guys in granite, that bigass Chief statue… seeing how folks across the frozen tundra make it…Seattle… down 101... Sample some wine… Blacks Beach (hehe).. Vegas.. Over to The Canyon… and play it by ear the resta the way..

Continue to immerse myself in yesterday. You’ve seen me, watched me. Every GD thing I do/say relates to yesteryear. I have no regrets about my enjoyment of yesteryear. I want to see as many people as I can that lived it with me - go to as many places that were special to me.. And appreciate the relics from that era that still survive…

Osmosis… I want osmosis to happen from my brain to my son’s brain. I am far, far, far from book smart - but I believe the most cherished present I possess is the ability to see from other’s shoes. Son can’t do that. I pray that role modeling, aging, and a light-clicking on up there will one day prompt this. His life would be so much more enjoyable if that were the case.

A cruise, any. Another float trip, any river. A campout. Another softball game. A nifty stereo system (or whateverthehell they’re called nowadays.).. Attend a Royal’s playoff game. Sit within the first five rows at a KU-MU basketball game where the Tigers prevail.

Say hello to my body in the mirror in the morning, and like the way it looks. Spend extra minutes with my two aging ‘brown cats.’

Continue to write blogs - and pray that upon occasion one provides a smile, a provoked thought, and continued comments.

Buy a second mirror (full length) for the bathroom so I can see the backa my head, my butt, whatever that itchin’ skin thingy is mid-back.

Get the hell outta this house.

Have a cell phone. “YOU DON’T HAVE A CELL PHONE?“ And you eat your salads DRY? Have a nice enough car I wouldn’t haveta chew seven fingernails wondering if it will pass the stupid mandatory State inspection.

Continue to have those moments where I see things that bring a tear to my eye. A feel inside I hope you know. Those feels make life so very worthwhile.

A partner. And with that partner - the realization - hey, forever ain’t very long now - so let’s make the most of it. Fuck “my stuff, your stuff”.. let’s have “our stuff.” The ability to come to and live with the realization there just ain’t no such thing as perfection. Shit the other does will bother - don’t allow it to break it. Learn to enjoy and appreciate those difference.

A dog. I screwed up the life of my last dog. I’d gone into a “live-in” situation for an extended period - didn’t check in ‘back home’ as frequently as I should have.. When I finally did after many, many days of not doing so - I learned the health of my dog had digressed so it was too late to return to good health. I fucked up, and I will always regret that. He deserved better - I want to show I can provide better. I had rescued him from three years of living in a kennel - finally deemed “too big, undesirous to breed.” He lived beneath the water bed for an entire year before he would finally come out - trepidly see what was going on. He grew to run.. Run like the wind for years - enjoy. I did provide that for him - but not nearly enough years. No do-overs here - but I long for another chance…

Continued ‘touch’ with those who are special in my life. Yes, friends from yesteryear - but too family, current and former co-workers.. Even if it’s a fleeting one-liner email - continued touch.

There are no Mount Everests… No lion slaying safaris.. No Eiffel Tower trips..

Simple stuff. With the complexities, new science, electronics, increased economic cost to do damn near anything - I want simple. I appreciate simple. Simple makes the world go round. Makes it happy. Makes it enjoyable.

Simply my Bucket List. Yours? Love, Victurd.