My Bucket List

OK. For some reason I've been inspired.

Whether it was the trip to Costa Rica, the trip back, or whatever, I've been inspired to improve my life. I want to be so much better. It really shouldn't be that hard. Little improvements along the way make for big improvements at the end. Heck, some would say I'm not really that good anyway, so ANYTHING would be an improvement.

I can't say I disagree all that much.

I tried to do a little bit of research on the subject, and so did the requisite clicking around the Internet. What I found was that most people today are making bucket lists.

You know what a bucket list is...a list of the stuff you want to do before you kick the bucket. Though I've heard of them, I've never really worked on mine. Today, however, I thought it might not be a bad idea to jot down a few ideas.

So, here's the start. It's just a draft, so it will be improved over the next few months.

1 - Read more good books and watch less television.
2 - Do better in my Church calling, whatever it might be.
3 - Be able to retire...it doesn't matter when, since right now it doesn't look like I'll be able to do it AT ALL.
4 - Jump out of an airplane.
5 - Climb a large mountain, like Everest (ok, not Everest, but a large mountain)
6 - Cycle 100 miles in less than 7 hours.
7 - Run five 5k races, with my son, in 2011.
8 - Do a triathlon, even if it's a mini.
9 - Have better food storage in my home.
10 - Write a book that someone will actually read.
11 - Go to the new Yankee Stadium.
12 -

You know what? The more I think about it, the more I realize that I've already done a lot of the things I want to do.

I went on a mission.

I got married.

I had children.

I went to Europe.

I traveled by train.

I flew an airplane.

I flew IN an airplane.

I went skiing in Utah (Greatest snow on earth).

I have relaxed on the beach in Hawaii.

For the most part, I'm happy with my life. Would I change anything? Maybe, but there are very few choices I've made over the years with which I am dissatisfied. For the most part, I'm comfortable in my own skin.

If I really think closely about it, there's only one thing on my bucket list, and it's something I work on every single day. I pray for it. I think about it. I practice it. I really, really try to do it.

I just want to be a good husband and father.

Nothing more, nothing less.

If I never get to run a triathlon, so be it, if my wife and kids are happy.

No Everest? I'm fine with that, if they are satisfied.

Never jump out of an airplane? OK.

When I die, you can write what you want on my tombstone. But if my wife and my kids can say that I was the best husband and father they could have had, everything else will have just been gravy.