my bucket list

Someone in my *orbit* has a parent who is in declining health with an expectation that they don't have much time left on this planet. The parent had a beach trip on their bucket list so that's what they're doing this weekend... living large on the Redneck Riviera (aka Panama City).

All this makes me think about my bucket list... what are the things that I wanna do before I die... which hopefully is not for a few more decades so ideally, I should have plenty of time to accomplish these goals, although maybe not plenty of resources. SO... here's my bucket list... at least the things that come to mind in the pre-dawn hours:

1. To be completely debt free. No medical debt. No unpaid credit cards. Nothing to sneak up and bite me. My car being (finally) paid off is a huge step in that direction.

2. To own my own little cabin in the woods... simple, small, rustic... and all mine.

3. To be a grandmother. None of my kids are ready to be parents yet so I'm ok with waiting on that... but I do want to experience that bond. I had to wait a long time to be an aunt and it was absolutely one hundred percent worth it... being a grandma will, I'm sure, be worth the wait too.

4. To see much, much more of the United States. We didn't travel when I was growing up, my resources for travel have been quite limited as an adult... I want to go and see as much as I can of this country.

5. To have the ability to be philanthropic. To have the means to give back to all the people who have helped me financially over the past few years ... and to have the means to "pay it forward" to others who need a hand-up (not a hand-out).

6. To produce another show with Purple Michael. For that matter... to have another bed and breakfast weekend like the amazing birthday weekend we had a few years ago... he's so busy and so well loved that it's hard to carve out time to have his undivided attention for long.

7. To own a dog. A little toy purse kind of yip-yip dog. I want to live in a place where it would be ok to have a little dog. Our neighborhood dog, "Mayor" hasn't been at the corner to tell me goodbye over the past few days and I'm worried about him. Austin said he has something wrong with him because his hair is falling out. Poor Mayor.

8. To be thin. Or thinner. Just a normal size, not cover girl ready... the steroid shots and host of meds that I'm on in order to just be able to function enough to earn a living have packed on the pounds and once again that healthy weight goal has slipped off in the distance. I don't want to have to have twenty men as pallbearers when my time on earth has ended.

9. To have one day... just one... where I'm pain free and my heart doesn't beat out of my chest and I don't feel exhausted and can actually enjoy the world around me instead of being such a hermit. Ok. Maybe two days.

10. To have a family reunion - even better, a family vacation - that includes all of my brothers and their significant others, all their children (and grandchild)... to be able to be all in one place, to be able to adore my nieces and nephews (and grandnephew)... to be able to sit around and joke with my brothers... to enjoy my sisters-in-law... I don't want to have to wait until somebody dies for us to all be in one place.

That's all for now... maybe I'll add to it later...

What's on your bucket list?