Frakes: There are different kinds of bucket lists
BY KEN FRAKES
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
12/05/12 at 3:09 AM
There is more than one bucket list.
Bucket List A, the most familiar, is where you put the things you feel compelled to do before you kick the bucket. I have lived a full life, so there aren't many things I have left to put there. I have never wanted to visit Europe or Hawaii, but I might put a trip to the Bonneville Salt Flats for a land speed record in that bucket if I have time left.
I have been fishing in Canada, made a cruise to Glacier Bay, Alaska, jumped out of an airplane with a parachute strapped to my butt and bought breakfast for a homeless mother and her two kids in downtown Tulsa. I raced motorcycles for 15 years, did off-road motorcycle racing, dirt-track racing, and sports car racing for a couple of years, and acquired several nice automobiles. I wish I had done more for others. That still may go into Bucket List A.
Other than doing more for others, which I intend to address, there may be a few more things to add to Bucket List A, but I can't think of them immediately. More to the point for me are Bucket Lists B and C.
Bucket List B is where you put things you will never have to do again because, more than likely, they are beyond your horizon of life. Things like putting a 30-year roof or paint job on your house, another new car or another new wardrobe. Also, put colonoscopies in this bucket. It gives me great pleasure to tick off the items going into this bucket.
It is most pleasing to put aggravating chores and tasks into Bucket List B. My last roof went on the house after a hailstorm three years ago. Another hailstorm sometime soon might force me to pull the new-roof list out of the bucket, but for now it is a done deal. The paint job on the house will far outlast my tenure. As will enduring the pain of a beloved pet dying, or worse, having to put them down. Our dogs are relative pups. They will outlast me.
Bucket List C is where you put things you never willingly have done and wouldn't do again if someone held a gun to your head. Things like spending a day shopping at a department store or mega-box store. Why would you do that?
Things like talking to uninvited telephone solicitors should also go into Bucket List C. Even though I don't get out much and crave personal interaction, put those robo-calls and unsolicited sales call into Bucket List C. I have had telephone solicitors hang up on me.
These three bucket lists should serve you well.
Ain't none of us getting out of this alive and getting things settled before we leave is most satisfying. Keep the other bucket lists in mind as you approach the end.
Original Print Headline: There are different kinds of bucket lists
Ken Frakes of Tulsa is a freelance writer and editor.
Associated Images:
Ken Frakes: There are more bucket lists than just the one for things you feel compelled to do before you kick the bucket.
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