NOT a Bucket List

A "bucket" list implies the end of which I'd rather not contemplate. Instead the list I've decided to embrace, is a little bit different but still carries the same charm, and it rhymes with the original. This list is generated when people tell a person he or she is too old to do something, and the reply is, as it should be, "F---it! I'm gonna do it anyway!" Hence, the other list.

Number one for this old biddy is water skiing. I've wanted to do this since I first watched fellow campers water skiing on Lake Chateaugay in the mountains of New York about fifty years ago. So why didn't I? Oh, it was too dangerous or I didn't want people to see me above water with my butt hanging out of my bathing suit or, more recently, it might throw out my back. . .

The instructor at Lichnos Beach in Epirus Greece, helped me finally realize this dream. Okay, so I never said I expected to stand on the water, only to ski, hence the name of the activity. And as a very short and insignificant post script, I did throw my back out. Darn!

But there's something to be said for putting your fears on the back burner and allowing yourself to just do it! And so, though my back may delay my next attempt, I now know what it is to feel that brief moment of flying atop the water because I did make it to a standing position for about 3 seconds, which of course was not memorialized by my "photographer." However, he is forgiven, as I'm pretty sure he was startled by the shriek I let out as my knees straightened, and he was probably more surprised by that momentary success than I!

Onward to number two on the list. Run a marathon.

Well, running a marathon probably requires some preparation, so that item has been tailored to running a 5K which I can run perfectly well on my flat even treadmill, with the added fan feature cooling off my face.

As it turns out, though, nature's terrain is a bit more challenging with her monstrous hills. And the chatter and competitive nature of the other runners can be a distraction. AND! For Goodness sake, aren't there supposed to be those tables with little cups of water when you get to the top of a hill??

So let's just modify that "running" to "finishing." I did maintain a slow trot that never became a walk. . . and for that I am proud, placing three hundred and thirtieth as I met the finish line, which is evident by the normal town activity going on in the background as they'd already cheered 329 people and probably thought the race was over. However, I was not last and my bib number is hanging proudly on the wall of our home.

I look forward to other activities like hang gliding, paddle boarding and yes, parachuting! But lately I've been sidetracked by several experiences that scream:

"You ARE too old . . . you just don't know it!"