So, What's On YOUR Bucket List?

Since it would be very difficult to prioritize the things I would like to do before I die according to either importance or my desire to accomplish each task, I thought that maybe it would make more sense to list them according to the time of year when I would like to do them, particularly since many of these things are best done during a certain time of year. Indeed, some of them are very seasonal.

Before we start the seasonal order though, there are a few things I'd like to do to prep for the rest. I'd start by getting a camera. A really good digital slr-type, since I enjoy photography and would like to be able to capture my last years. Maybe I could even get lucky enough to catch an image worthy of the public's attention to share with the world forever.

Also, I'd like to learn to play guitar. Not to the point of mastery, just a few simple songs that I could play in public - say, at a coffee house open mike, or maybe in the park in summer.

Ok, with those out of the way, let's get on with my seasonal-themed bucket list!

I hate winter... I mean I H-A-T-E winter! Despite spending my whole life in the midwest, I've never gotten used to the cold. Oh sure, the snow is pretty enough when it first falls, but a few hours on the ground and it's been plowed and salted and tromped-through and smushed and it just becomes this dingy, cold, gray, yucky slop. Good time to do a bit of traveling and see some of those places I've always dreamed of. I'd like to go to the Florida keys - Key West... Key Largo... those places which inspired Hemingway. Then down perhaps to Mexico. I'd spend some time just laying on a beach, sipping my usual rum & Coke, watching the tide roll in and out and feeling the sun on my skin. Oh! and Australia! Always wanted to go there, might as well do it now. Their seasons are opposite ours, so our winter is an ideal time to go, since it's summer down there Then Egypt... the pyramids. Maybe a safari in Africa? Great time to break out that camera! Good time to see the rainforest, too. By then, it ought to be time to go home, maybe stop in New York just in time to watch the ball drop in Times Square.

A wonderful time of year! The trees are budding, flowers blooming, everything full of hope and promise. I'll be rested from my Winter traveling - Can you tell that travel makes up a big part of this list? Maybe a trip to Europe... England... France...Italy...see those sights which I've only read about. What could be better than springtime in Paris?

There's always so much going on during the summer! I would like to go to the Renaissance Festival in Wisconsin one more time. Haven't been there in years. Great America, too; I've always loved the rides I have never been to Taste of Chicago, Navy Pier... Catch the fireworks over Lake Michigan one last time. Take a boat ride down the Chicago River, a walk down Michigan Ave. Then a drive up to Wisconsin. My father built a house in the northwoods there - Rhinelander, Oneida County. I'd like to go back up there. Visit Ashland, the Apostle Islands for that vague, Twin Peaks-ish vibe with the thick forest, rolling hills and clean, crisp air. Then up farther north... Alaska. Standing on the shore of a calm, crystal-clear lake. Mountains in the distance. Eagles soaring overhead. Maybe do some hiking. Then point the car back southward, drive down to Tennessee. Listen to some down-home music. Spend a quiet evening sitting on a porch swing, holding hands and sipping some cool ice tea. Gotta see Graceland for my mother's sake. She would have loved to have seen Elvis' home. Least I can do is see it for her before I join her.

Fall is honestly my absolute favorite time of year. The feel of the year coming to an end as the trees change colors. The brisk, fall air. Time to take in a covered bridge tour – I recall there's a pretty good one in Indiana. Maybe a leisurely drive down a twisty, tree-lined road in a convertible. Or on a motorcycle! I love the fall colors and have often heard that the east coast is unbeatable for scenery. A trip to Boston might be in order. Time to break out the camera again. Also a good time to visit an old friend there and say goodbye. Maybe even have one last jam session like we used to when we were teenagers. As my time draws nearer, I would want to draw closer to those who mean the most to me. Material things are nice and help to pass the time while we're here, but in the end, when it really comes down to it, we are little more than the sum of our memories of our time as we pass through the world. I would like to collect some good ones, and leave good ones with those who shared my life. How fitting that my life would draw to a close so near All Soul's Day. Time enough for one last Halloween, then it's...

Goodbye.