Last Tuesday we took the girls caroling.  One nearly-almost-14-year-old excitedly confided, “I’ve always wanted to do this.”

“Ah, get to cross something off your bucket list,” I said in a humorous tone.

“Exactly!” she agreed and didn’t appreciate my wit.

photo courtesy the web

Wow.  If only all bucket lists were that easy to accomplish.  A few years ago when that Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman movie came out bucket lists became in vogue.  So, of course, I didn’t make one.  I’ve never been good at making goals.  Too much pressure.  I prefer to make what I call “bite-sized steps.”  Mini-goals if you will.  Things that I’m sure I’ll accomplish and can cross off my daily list.  Because I really like crossing things off my list.  It just feels so good.

But after Tuesday night I’ve been thinking about it.  Perhaps I do have a list of what I want to achieve before I die.  No, I’m not falling in line with a popular fad.  This is totally different than the fashionable bucket list, mind you.  A bucket list consists of goals to cross off before one dies.  My personal list consists of goals I want to cross off before I die.  See the difference?  There are just a few things I thought I’d share.

One:  I want to write the words to a song.  Not just any song.  A song that gets played ad nauseam on the radio.  One that the mass majority relates to and if that majority wants to show their affection with their pocketbook, well, I wouldn’t complain.  But I’d settle for a song that speaks to the heart.  Maybe one to help the Young Women when they are faced with dark days.

Two: I want to make a million people laugh simultaneously.  What?  Too much?  Okay, I want to be able to cause laughter – in a positive way (in other words, not laughing at me) for an audience.  If I were a braver person, I’d admit I want to be a standup comic.  But I don’t want to pay my dues with the small venues, flat jokes, and hecklers.  I want to skip to the Ellen Degeneres sized shows.

Three:  I want to save a life.  Not in the physical sense with CPR and first aid.  In fact, I’d prefer not to be around someone in medical need.  Unless, passing out myself will help someone with a medical issue, I better not be around a medical emergency.  But I want to help snatch someone from the dark abyss and help that person find the light.  To give hope to a hopeless situation.  To rescue a soul.

How To Save a Life – The Fray

Yeah, I think those are my current to-do’s on my life’s list.  I don’t think I’m asking too much.  Do you?  What’s on your list?