Source: flickr.com via ~Jacie~ on Pinterest
My mother in law and I were sitting around gabbing a few weeks ago about what (if any) items we would have on our “Bucket List”.
I mean, in all reality, my TRUE Bucket List is made up of things like “raise God fearing, compassionate children and be a great wife” Or something like that.
But for the sake of conversation, I really tried to think of what I would like to do before peacing out for Heaven if given the option. Here are a few I came up with:
-Write a Book. A real one. With real paper and binding and…gasp…that you can find on the shelf of a bookstore, even if only for a few weeks and then seeing it in the $1 bargain bin. Did you know that I was offered a book contract a few months ago? Like, a real one? From a legit publisher? I actually have the contract sitting on the desk next to me as I type. Unsigned. Well, it has the editor’s signature…I just had to sign it myself and send it back. So if writing a book is on my List, why on earth didn’t I jump at the opportunity? Because the timing was bad. The final (first draft) manuscript would have been due on June 1. Which meant I only had a few months to churn it out…while being a mom to three and pregnant/sick. It was one of the HARDEST decisions I had to make, but in retrospect it was hands down the best decision I could have made. Jill had her back to back seizures right before what would have been my deadline…and let’s just say that I would have probably had a nervous breakdown. For now, I’m just hoping that someday the opportunity presents itself again and that I didn’t blow my one shot. Fingers crossed.
-Go on a short term missions trip. I can use some bubble bursting world rocking. I’d love to go to Africa. Squeeze sweet babies. See with my own eyes what God’s heart aches for. And then come back with a new resolve. I was never really interested in doing something like this…until I had kids. For now, they are too little for me to be traveling across the world, but maybe in a few years.
-Take my family to meet my family. Just about all of my Dad’s side of the family and at least half of my mom’s side still lives in Portugal (actually, on a small island off the coast of the mainland). I went once when I was 12, and it was gorgeous and beautiful and lovely in every way. Ideally, I’d love for my kids to meet their great grandmother…but I’m not sure we would be able to swing that. The last time I checked, airfare alone was $1,700 per PERSON. Do the math for a family of six and I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to afford that kind of a trip. Even if everything would basically be free once we got there. Boo. (This one breaks my heart the most…I love my granny. I miss her. Even if I only met her once almost 20 years ago. She rocks.) Either way, I would love for my kids to see where half of their heritage is from…and be buried in kisses from affectionate aunts, uncles and cousins. My dad is one of 9 kids so you can imagine how many family members are there! (It also doesn’t hurt that hydrangeas grow wild alongside the roads.)
-Go to Rio de Janeiro. I don’t know why this bustling city intrigues me so much, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to go. While my mother in law rattled off exotic locales and historical sites that she would love to visit, the only ones I could think of that I would like to go to were Africa, Portugal, and Rio. Okay, and a few weeks lounging in the Tuscan countryside wouldn’t hurt. But honestly, I’m not much into travel. It’s not my gig. People who want to travel around in an RV? No thank you. Spending months at a time backpacking through Europe? I can see the allure, but it’s not very tempting. But for some reason, I’d really really really love to visit Rio. We had the opportunity to go (over New Years!!!) in college, in which I would base my senior project (I majored in City & Regional Planning and had a Brazilian professor who had connections at the university there). We found ultra ridiculous cheap airfare, but being newly married, dirt poor college students, we hemmed and hawed at spending the money. By the time we decided to go, the airfare had more than tripled. To this day, it’s one of the few things I regret not just doing. Poop.
-Attend a Summer Olympics. I love, love, love, LOVE the Olympics. Which is weird because I’m not much of a sports person, but for some reason, I am jump up and down excited for Friday’s opening ceremonies. GIDDY. Seriously. I would love to actually attend a Summer Olympics…go to swimming, gymnastics, track competitions. Any of it. All of it. Just pack it in. Oh my goodness how I would love this! Ack! Again, I’m not sure we will ever be able to afford this since I would imagine hotels and airlines hike up prices and I would guess it’s a pretty penny to actually attend said events. But still, it would be super fun…
And wouldn’t you know it…guess where the 2016 Summer Olympics are being held?
Rio.
Ugggggghhhhh. Really IOC, really? You couldn’t make that happen in like 2036 instead when I *might* be able to go?! Sabotage. Conspiracy. They hate me. I know it.
What’s on your Bucket List?
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Going down to London for Olympics next week! And again possibly at the end of August for Paralympics – Olympic park day pass! My daughter is too young to remember it but want pictures of her with us there to show her in a few years. Go team GB!! :)
I would definitely buy any book written by you — I’m sure it would be awesome! And we were fortunate enough to live in SLC during the winter Olympics in 2002 — a crazy, wild, awesome experience, though I’m glad I lived here and didn’t just travel to attend. Even so, many of the events were too expensive to attend.
That’s awesome about a book deal. I’m not surprised though, because you are an awesome writer. Don’t worry, if it’s in God’s plan, it will happen again.
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I love the Olympics too. And it would be amazing to see them in person.
A book by you? Totally. I’d buy it in a sec.
The top of my bucket list is to buy a home and go on a honeymoon. The husband and I never got one and we are dreaming of taking one. Every year we get a little closer though. This year we got a whole weekend to ourselves and I took my hubby to Disney and Epcot for his first time. Orlando is only 45 minutes from us, so that in no way qualifies as a honeymoon. :o)
My bucket list at this point is to have children and to write and illustrate a children’s book. My husband and I are living overseas and I feel like a lot of my former “items” on the list are being taken care of just because of where we live.
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This list is inspiring me to make my own list! Which island is your family from? My family is from the Azores. I’m Brazilian (not from Rio, but from an even most ebautiful place called Florianopolis). Rio is crazy, but it truly is an echanting place. Hope you get to go someday. And the food is just to die for. ;)
p.s.: love your blog and what it stands for.
Fellow Urban & Regional Planner here (I have used my degree for exactly two weeks in the last ten years)! I’d say do the Olympics in Rio–love the idea of knocking out two things at once!
the idea of “hydrangeas grow wild alongside the roads” sounds amazing. I love them.
We are different in most of my bucket list revolves around travel, oh how i love it!!
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Love your list!!! Writing a book would be awesome!!! But I get that… You want to do your best work, and at the time it just wasn’t meant to be… I have a 30 Before 30 list… Which is almost a bucket list. ;) http://www.trulylovelyblog.net/about-us/30-before-30/
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