Not My Bucket List

I usually pay no attention to such things as bucket lists -- too little time and too little interest However, one that my sister, Danielle, sent me twice this past week finally did poke its nose into my life long enough for me to reply and forward (again, something I rarely do; those chain emails usually die in my inbox). So here is the little thing that intrigued me for a few minutes, with my answers and some commentary:

A Bucket List

Place an X by all the things you've done --

(x) Shot a shot gun (all kinds of "guns" -- comes with having spent eight years in the Army)

(x) Gone on a blind date (that would be with Donnie; it "took")

(x) Skipped school (worse: I actually enrolled for classes that met at the same time in order to finish up my undergraduate education in two years when my scholarship was taken away after getting married because a financial aid counselor felt that scholarships are wasted on married women; "you will never do anything with your degree now that you are married," he said)

( ) Watched someone die (I would not put this on a list, but if someone needs me, I hope I will be there)

(x) Been to Canada

(x) Been to Alaska

( ) Been to Cuba (I'm ready whenever it opens up again!)

(x) Been to Europe

(x) Been to South America

(x) Been to Las Vegas

(x) Been to Mexico

(x) Been to Florida

(x) Been on a plane

(x) Served on a Jury (Nope. They never want me!)

(x) Been lost (Lots of times, but I don't appreciate Danielle's response to this item: "especially if my sister Elizabeth is leading the way")

(x) Been on the opposite side of the country

(x) Gone to Washington, DC

(x) Swam in the ocean

( ) Cried yourself to sleep (I'm a fighter, not a crier)

( ) Played Cops and Robbers (think I missed out on that in childhood; probably too late now, unless with the grands)

( ) Played Cowboys and Indians (another childhood miss)

(x) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Sang Karaoke

( ) Paid for a meal with coins only (no, but paid for a magazine with pennies only)

( ) Made prank phone calls (And I would want to do that, why?)

( ) Laughed until some beverage came out of your nose (Ouch!)

(x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

(x) Danced in the rain (and hurricane, blizzard -- love that stormy weather)

(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus (one that I helped Doah with was answered! A postman father of one of Lizzie's friends delighted Doah that way)

(x) Been kissed under the mistletoe

(x) Watched the sunrise with someone

(x) Blown bubbles

(x) Gone ice/roller skating (in Maine, one grows up on ice; roller skating came along later)

(x) Gone skiing (cross-country only -- in Siberia, a place where everyone skis; the only problem is that I know ski terminology only in Russian)

(x) Camped out under the stars

(x) Seen something so beautiful that it took your breath away

(x) Are or have been married

(x) Have children

(x) Have or had a pet

(x) Been skinny dipping outdoors (Yep, in Armenia during the Cold War days of the Soviet Union and compromised a KGB agent in the process)

(x) Been fishing

(x) Been boating

(x) Been water skiing

(x) Been hiking

(x) Been camping in a trailer/RV

( ) Flown in a small 4-seater airplane (But I did fly in two ten-seaters; one in the USA and an old wooden one in Uzbekistan; those were small enough for me; the wooden one had huge windows like you see in the movies from the 1950s)

( ) Flown in a glider

(x) Flown in a helicopter

( ) Been flying in a hot air balloon

( ) Been bungee-jumping

(x) Gone to a drive-in movie

(x) Done something that should have killed you (well, probably a number of things, including my plans for the month of August, but the one that is most vivid is hiking the high, rugged cliffs above the Black Sea in the Crimea where the gaps between stones are higher than I am tall; did slip off one and nearly get dashed on the rocks; was rescued in the nick of time by a prison warden [participant in a seminar I was teaching] grabbing my hand and hanging onto me until others could pull me back up

(x) Done something that you will regret (feel sad about) for the rest of your life

(x) Been to Africa (only if you count Sharm El Sheikh)

(x ) Ever ride an elephant

(x) Ever eaten just cookies for dinner (breakfast and lunch, too)

(x) Ever been on T.V. (Yep, in Belarus, Ukraine, Uzbekistan; odd, not in the USA)

(x) Ever steal any traffic signs (And why would I want to do that? Donnie did slide on some ice and run over one once!)

(x) Ever been in a car accident

(x) Bailed out of helicopter/plane (No, my emergency landing experiences have actually had the plane land without requiring us to exit)

And then there were these questions at the end. I have no idea what they have to do with a bucket list. It is not as if I could get another name for my mother!

Mother's name? Mary

Have a tattoo? No

Body piercings? No

Do you drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-door, but I have had both, as well as tractors and deuce-and-a-halfs

Favorite Number: 5 (And the price of rice in China is..?)

Favorite movie? Enemy Mine (If you have not seen it, you must. Anyone who lives in a cross-linguistic environment and/or spent time in enemy territory will identify.)

Favorite dessert? Raspberries (a close second are blueberries, huckleberries, blackberries, loganberries, strawberries, brusnika & chernika [the little red and black berries of Siberia] -- wild or cultivated; I should have been a bear)

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? In my wonderful little town of San Ignatio doing whatever God is at that time placing before me

Farthest place you will send this message? Bahrain

Who will respond the fastest? the Bahraini

I don't have a bucket list. (I don't even have a bucket, and if I did, it would probably look like the one above!) The reason is simple. My life has been too unpredictable to plan on accomplishing anything of my own design. At the same time, the life experiences that I have stumbled upon (and through) and those God has placed before me are better than anything I could dream up to put on a bucket list.

What about you? Do you maintain a bucket list? Do anything about it?