There are holes in my bucket

By now, most of us understand the term “Bucket List.” Research reveals that screenwriter Justin Zackham coined the term in his screenplay for the 2007 film “The Bucket List.” The movie, slightly silly, featured two iconic actors, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The idea was for these two men, who met in a hospital, to try to fulfill a list of experiences or achievements they hoped to accomplish during their lifetime before “kicking the bucket” (an idiom for “dying”). The list of things to do was put in a proverbial “bucket.”

We all make “bucket lists,” if not formally, in the back of our mind. Of course, the point in your life when you make this list is important, since time, money, health and opportunity have to be available in order to accomplish some of the things on your list. One might want to make a list while reasonably young; waiting too late can make you have to shorten your list. In my case, since I am a “mid-septuagenarian” (halfway through my 70s), I find that I have several holes in my “bucket.” Some things I would like to experience or accomplish would take too much time, money and good health to expect fulfillment.

For example, my whole life I have wanted to go to Africa on a photo safari to take pictures of the amazing wildlife. It is not too late, but time, money and health make this one of my items that I have pushed farther down the list. More important for me is a trip to Israel. As a student of Christian history and theology, it is the No. 1 destination on my list. I was to go on a church trip to the Holy Land in January 2020 when our move from Arkansas to Texas complicated my finances considerably, so the trip had to be canceled. I still hope to go before my “bucket” list expires. (And before I expire!)

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