Abbreviated Bucket List

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

Nearly everyone is familiar with the concept of a bucket list thanks to the outstanding cinematic efforts of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. For those who are not, it’s essentially a collection of items one hopes to do, see or otherwise experience before kicking the proverbial bucket and shuffling off this mortal coil. Herein, I shall document some highlights from MY list as I, in fact, wish to one day go absolutely every where and do damned near every thing. Who, when pressed, would not wish for the same? The item below are presented in no particular order or priority and admittedly skew heavily to sports, food and drink. Further, all are fully expected to be rigorously experienced with my fair partner in crime right by my side.

1. Hop out of a perfectly functional airplane (again). In this I am selfish as my first skydiving experience happened when my son was newly born and when I reached the ground safely my aforementioned partner in crime (aka my wife) exclaimed “Never again!”
2. Drink a pint of Guinness in an Irish countryside pub.
3. Learn how to properly ride my damned unicycle. Having received the confounding, one-wheeled contraption two Christmases ago, after years of asking for it to be gifted, I have to date, of my own doing, failed miserably on this one.
4. Attend a Super Bowl and partake in all the ancillary activities surrounding it.
5. View the Northern Lights in Iceland. I will have a more than legitimate shot of crossing this one off the list in less than 8 weeks thanks to my sweetie.
6. Watch my beloved Winnipeg Jets hoist the Stanley Cup in victory and preferably in person. This will require a mighty culmination of events, many of which, I fully realize, are beyond my control.
7. Snorkel or scuba dive (which would also require becoming SCUBA certified) on The Great Barrier Reef, provided it still exists in the time it takes for us to get there.
8. Explore, eat and drink in Portugal, Greece, Italy and Spain in this order. Yes, I understand this is several items all bundled into one, but it’s my list and I can do what I want.
9. Write MY book, the topic and contents of which may have their motivation, if not their genesis, derived from this daily writing process. I’ve also 8 years worth of morning tweets or a now dated hockey dad blog to source from.
10. This last one I’ve described for some time to anyone who will listen and, in truth, have partially stolen from an article I read a long time ago by a journalist in Sports Illustrated, who’s name I don’t recall. This “item” will require a significant level of planning, money and time to pull off. In short, I would love to buy or rent a Volkswagen Type 2 bus/van and travel across North America to experience a baseball game (or 2) in each major league park. By definition, this experience must include the savouring of a cold beer and hot dog along with whatever other culinary fare each park is best known for. I also foresee journaling this epic journey, which may in turn help to tick off box #9 above.

Having read my partial, yet arguably impressive catalog, I’m ever so interested to hear what’s on YOUR list.