“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.” – The Bucket List (2007)
I have only ever made one bucket list. It was a summer bucket list. My best friend and I went to our local library, sat down in a study room, and compiled a list of all the things we wanted to do our last summer before college. My bucket list had stuff like, “swim in a new body of water, like a waterfall or a lake you’ve never been to,” and “spark a conversation with a complete stranger,” neither of which I ended up doing that summer, at least to the best of my recollection. That was partially due to the fact that I never looked at my bucket list that summer, but another reason was that I half-assed (sorry--I don’t know if I’m allowed to curse in a blog post) my whole list. I mean, what could I really get done in the span of a few months?
A Walk to Remember is one of my favorite movies, not just because I’m a hopeless romantic, but also because Landon showed Jamie that she could cross things off her list before she died, even the things that seemed impossible. She wanted to get a tattoo, and he gave her a temporary tattoo. She wanted to be in two places at once, and he drove her to the state line so she could have each foot in a different state. Granted, she didn’t do everything on her list, but she was able to knock out a good number of things in the short time she had left, all in ways she'd never thought of.
If I had done any of the things on my bucket list, it would have been something memorable—something that I could look back on at the end of the summer and be grateful that it happened. The same goes for a regular bucket list—the things on it should be memorable. I may not have a real bucket list written down, but I think everyone has a sense of some things they want to do or achieve before they die. Death is a scary thing for most people, but knowing it’s out there encourages us to go about living differently. If we had an unlimited amount of time on Earth, would we do everything we wanted to? Or would we put it all off because there would always be tomorrow? The thing about Jamie and Landon is that they knew they had a very limited amount of time together, so they wanted to cross things off her list as quickly as possible before time ran out. But what about us? We also have a limited amount of time on Earth; we just don’t think of it like Jamie does because we don’t know our expiration date.
On a lighter note, I asked some friends what the #1 thing on their bucket list is, and these were some of their answers:
- Hike the Grand Canyon
- Drive a commercial truck (an 18-wheeler, to be exact)
- Swim with dolphins
- Fall in love
- Have a family
- Steal the Mona Lisa
- Swim with sharks
- Ride a motorcycle
At first, I thought some of these things were weird, especially driving a commercial truck, but hey—everyone is different. I also didn’t give them any context. They probably would have thought harder if they knew I was going to share their answers on a blog post. Since I’ve had more time to think about it, I’ll share a serious answer about what is at the top of my list:
- Find my great loves in life—whether I find them in my passions, future career, partner, and/or family
Everyone has different memories and parts of their lives they will look back on, whether that looking back happens a little at a time as they move through later life or all at once in their final moments before death. That’s not to say people’s desires and priorities won’t change over time, but their core values, which don’t usually change all that much, are reflected in what they want to do and achieve in life. Like the quote says at the top of this post—yes, you should make your life something worth watching; just make sure it is something you would want to watch.