Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Bucket List

The most wittily written movie on my top five faves is "Broadcast News" from 1986. It has many one liners and scenes that draw laughs over and over again. To wit:

Up and coming news anchor: What do you do when your real life exceeds your wildest dreams?
Downward slipping reporter: Keep it to yourself.

The new movie out with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson poses the question- if you knew you were going to die in a certain amount of time, would you make a list of all the things you wanted to do (and do them) before you kicked the bucket?

If I had a bucket list I'd have crossed off everything on it by now. But I'll keep that to myself.

Admire the Aurora Borealis from atop a blueberry field in the gentle fall air? Or from the deck of an ice breaker in far northern Canada? Done it. Go on a dig in Tuscany with wild boar in the bushes and olive groves all around? Sure.

Straddle the equator? Yup.

Walk a Roman bridge over a cold Scottish brook...cross the Firth of Forth, throw stones into the north sea...admire a pod of dolphins cavort in our bow wave in the Blue Bahamian sea, earn a graduate degree, become published, shake hands with the leader of the free world? Cross them off.

Attend a hit Broadway show, see the Royal Shakespeare Company Kiss Kate, cruise the Seine while violins play and Notre Dame glows in the Paris night? Splash in an Amazonian waterfall? Yup.

Make a difference in my town, help a child, see the green flash, meet a Kuwaiti billionaire, expose corruption, stand up for something, admire a sunset over the Sierra Madres, dig for amethyst, accept Jesus as my savior and commune daily with the Holy Spirit, lead someone to Christ, all on the bucket list. All crossed off.

Make a good friend, love someone, rescue an animal, eat frog's legs, laugh so hard my sides hurt, read the classics, flirt with a gladiator, hear a stirring speech, mourn at Ground Zero. Check.

I could go on, but my bucket, it is full. What a life. It is good!

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