Bucket List

Bucket List

Meandering fifty miles in the shade of the  summer woods the past two weeks allowed my always churning ADHD brain to settle into a state of calmness.   The same calmness that I see in a woodland lake as the coolness of the water I sip quenches my thirst.  Sitting on a fallen sycamore log looking out at the reflection of trees in the lake,  I see a boy I knew many years ago looking back at this old man.    The man was once that boy who discovered the wonders of the woods and first sat looking at a woodland lake sipping water from his Boy Scout canteen.

The boy had big dreams on his bucket list.  He was going to be an astronaut and then play the hot corner for the Tribe.   The boy dreamed as only a lad is able about the things he would do some day.   He ate his peanut butter sandwich and stared into the mirror like surface of the glacial kettle pond.  

I smile thinking back to that lad I knew so well.   The big dreams of his youthful bucket list make me smile.   How I wish I could reach in the lake and shake that boys hand and rub the hair on his head and say keep dreaming my friend.  

Standing now on a ridge looking down at the calm lake,  I turned and walked away from the calmness of the lake.  My youthful dreams were in the lake, but my life’s bucket list is not in the big dreams of youthful exuberance.  Even though,  I would still like to play third base for the Tribe.

My bucket list is not about the visiting amazing places.  It is not about accomplishing far reaching goals.  I learned many years ago that the happiest people that I knew found their pleasures in the very day adventures of life. 

Forty-five summers have bubbled by like the water in the small creek that rambles through the beech wood and maple tree ravine.   I smile thinking that my bucket list now is not the big dreams of my youth, but experiencing the simple joys of the life that I live.

I stood at the bottom of the ravine looking at water ripping over the creek wash stones and could see clearly my every day bucket list:

To make a difference in the life a child and help them overcome their obstacles.

To take my son and dad to a baseball game.   I look through time when I see the two of them together.

To share meal with my mom knowing how many times she sat and listened to me

To fix or make something with my Dad.  I always learn when I work with my Dad.

To walk through the woods with my son.  We have a bond that is even stronger when we walk together looking for birds.

To laugh with my son and watch his eyes close tight as he laughs loudly.

To laugh with my brother and relive our brotherly connection.

To laugh often as I reconnect with family and friends.

To see the sparkle in my wife’s beautiful brown eyes.  To see the joy in her radiant smile and hear the love in her lyrical laugh.

To discover the spiritual guidance that we can learn each day.

Many years from now,  the good Lord willing,  I will meander back to the mirror like calmness of the woodland lake and peer deep into the water.   Sipping my water and quenching my thirst,  I will look into the lake reflection and see the man that I am today and the boy that  I once was looking back at me.   Tipping my old hiking hat,   I will look back at how many times the simple joys of my bucket list lifted my heart and raised my spirit.  New joys in life will be added to the list by then and will be as precious as those listed here today.   I will stand and walk way from that woodland lake knowing that in my days ahead that I will never travel back to the calmness of the woodland lake, but knowing I had lived a life worth living.   Even though, I never played for the Tribe.