Have you ever thought about making a “Bucket List” for what you want to do and achieve before you die? The recent movie of that title made me do some thinking about my life, past, present and future, and single at age 72, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is never too late to set some really deep and positive goals for your life. I’m doing it and it is working!
When I watched the movie, the message that came back to me was that a person who is self-centered all of his/her life is unlikely to find true joy. Jack Nicholson had his own company, money and power yet was an empty, miserable shell because he was so self-centered that he had never experienced the joy of truly loving another human being. He and his buddy, Morgan Freeman, made their “Bucket List” of some outrageous things they wanted to do, but when it was all said and done, it was 'LOVE' that gave their life value. The movie was very moving, but hilarious as well. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend that you do.
As I watched the movie, I thought back to 1994 when I was being wheeled down the hall on a gurney toward the operating room for open heart surgery and according to my family who were there with me, I made the comment to them that “I had been remise in not writing a diary of my life long experiences”. I was almost out from the anesthesia and was admittedly very frightened for fear that I would not make it. The requirement to have the surgery had come in less than twenty four hours before. My heart doctor had just finished doing a cardiac catheterization and after it was completed told me that “we had a lot of work to do”. He further told me that "I had severe blockage in five of my six arteries and that I would surely die if I did not have immediate surgery". He also told me that if I were to have heart failure even while in the hospital before the surgery that my condition was so severe there was no way that I could be saved from dying. As I look back on that moment in time, it is a wonder that I did not have a heart attack on the spot and die from the emotional impact that it had on me.
In reflecting on my life then and more appropriately now, had I written a bucket list at the time or even when I was a young adult, most of the items that I would have listed then or added later would be checked off now. I feel very fortunate to be a heart survivor and to have lived a life full of accomplishments, travels and experiences that most people I have met only dream about. For fear of boring you with an endless list, a few of them are:
I have, traveled extensively world wide;
Flown my airplane all over the US for many years;
Skied some of the highest mountains;
Dove the black hole in Belize;
Sport fished the waters of Hawaii, Costa Rica and other great places in the world;
Sailed my boat “The Tranquility” in the pacific ocean off Southern California;
Captained my small motor yacht, “5 P.M” on the inter-coastal waters of the Tennessee river;
Played Augusta National where the Masters is played;
Have risen to the top of a Fortune 200 company and retired as a senior sales and marketing executive.
The most important thing of everything that would have been on that list early on would have been to have a family and children. Although I lost my first son to cancer when he was 19, I have been blessed with two wonderful kids, a boy and a girl, who live vibrant lives today and a granddaughter as well. In addition, I find myself also blessed with a support system of two sisters who live close by and their families and many close friends all of whom I love dearly.
I have spent a lot of time recently reflecting upon the past thinking about all of the positives as well as the negatives over the years. Despite all of the ups and downs and tragedies that I had dealt with, I came to the conclusion that the positives far out weighed the negatives and there were so many things that I would not change even if I could. I also came to the conclusion, as I said above, that it is never too late to set some really deep and positive goals for your life.
With that latter thought in mind, I began to do some serious editing of the proverbial ‘bucket list” and I have added some very important and meaningful items that I have a strong desire to be able to check off before I die. The prime one on the top of my list is for me is to live out the rest of my life with a true purpose. I began defining what the word ‘Purpose’ means by jotting down different definitions of the meaning of it from my perspective. This can be admittedly difficult to do for anyone as the word has so many meanings.
For example, it gives my life purpose to:
Start each day with a desire to bring a bit of sunshine or joy to others. I find that the joy comes back to me, ten fold.
Participate in a community of faith by giving of my talents to my church, as well as other faith based organizations.
Donate my time to a variety of charitable organizations that I support.
I have listed a few other specific things that I want to do before I die, but the most important one is:
To meet a woman that I can truly love and spend the rest of my life with; one that will love me for me and have the same desire.
A tall measure for sure, but I think that I just may have found her! Stay tuned!
A recent friend that I have met told me that for her, "Love conquers all and is the Root to Life itself". How true that is!
Have you ever thought about making a “Bucket List” for what you want to do and achieve before you die? The recent movie of that title made me do some thinking about my life, past, present and future, and single at age 72, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is never too late to set some really deep and positive goals for your life. I’m doing it and it is working! 
