9 Things I Want to Accomplish Before I Retire From Earth

This is my bucket list.  It is created with wish, hope, and disillusion.   It’s a pretty boring list, but If I plan correctly I might be able to check a few of these off.

 

9.  Scuba Dive.  You might think this is an easy one, but I have an unhealthy fear of sharks.  Actually, call it respect.  I got scared out of the ocean when I was surfing one day as a teenager.  I have been in the water just a few times since, but in the last few years I have done two snorkeling trips in Panama.  I think I am ready to take the plunge (easy, sorry) and try some SCUBA. 

 

8.  Play Augusta National.  There is only one golf course that I truly desire to play, and it isn’t Pebble Beach or St. Andrews.  Augusta, the Masters, Amen Corner.  Not a huge golf historian or for that matter a big fan, but I like to play when I can.  If I ever got extended an invite I would jump on it in a second.  This is why we dream.  - - - - Associated wish, that I one day get a Hole In One and that at least one other person is there to witness it. 

 

7.  Live near my friends.  Even just one.  I really miss my closest friends and having not lived near any of them since, well, since college ended, I would give anything to be able to drive over and see them whenever I wanted.  They might not like me dropping in like Buddy Lembeck (Charles in Charge reference) but it would be great to know I could.  Plus I want my son to grow up with their kids.  If only I could figure out the logistics of this. 

 

6.  See a football game at Notre Dame.  Growing up in South Florida, pre-5,000 cable channels, Notre Dame Football was on every week (still is thanks to NBC’s billion dollar deal with the school).  They were my first exposure to college football.  They had great rivalry games with the hated Miami Hurricanes.  They had history.  I wanted to go to Notre Dame, even applied, but never sent the application.  Fast forward a few years and during one Christmas leave from the Army I got the chance to visit the university and happened to meet the head grounds keeper who gave me a VIP tour of the stadium, the President’s Suite, etc.  It was magical looking down at the snow covered field, but I wasn’t watching a game.  One day.  I think that is do-able. 

 

5.  Learn to play the guitar or piano.  Um, so the only thing keeping from this is my laziness.  I actually have a hope that our son will be musical, so I have been thinking in a couple years he and I will take lessons together.  I’ll tell him, when he protests, that I am willing to do it too.  Does that even work?  Anyway, if I could play one song on either instrument I would be very, very happy. 

 

4.  Finish a screenplay or a book.  I have been writing, something, for years but never finish anything.  Pick an excuse, I bet I have used it.  I have plenty of time and opportunity but I am the only one keeping me from this accomplishment. 

 

3.  Find a career.  I have had a job since I left the Army in 2007.  I desire to find myself in a career where I get as much satisfaction as I do challenge.  It would be great if I could wake up every day and be excited to go to work and come home knowing I did something during the day, instead of writing Hubs and checking sports scores. 

 

2.  Tour New Zealand and Australia.  When we got married we said this would be our Honeymoon, we never went.  Money and child have prevented this super trip from happening, but it is still a dream of mine.  I have been to and lived in a lot of places, but these are the only two remaining countries I want to visit.   - - - - Associated wish, visit all 50 States.  Only Hawaii, Iowa, and the Dakotas have eluded me thus far. 

 

1.  Own a house with a nice yard and wraparound porch.  I didn’t listen to anyone when I bought my townhouse at the near apex of the housing market back in 2007.  Instead, houses I really liked then are available now for so much less, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  So, if I ever find that dream job we will rent out the town house and get the home I am talking about here.  I don’t want a mansion, just a comfortable home, with a yard for the kid and dog to play in, away from a main street. 

 

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