Why I don't have a bucket list

This year, I was blessed to have several amazing experiences. Truly, I feel very fortunate. I have spent this year surrounded by friends old and new, traveled to new places and revisited others, and had some wonderful adventures. What made this year a little different, however, was that so many of these experiences were surprises.

I was not expecting to travel to Crete, or Sicily; Latvia or Turkey. Plans changed, and new opportunities brought forth some incredible adventures. I did not go to the beach in Portugal one day mentally preparing myself to go cliff-diving. What made that experience so sweet was the spontaneity of it. It was the fact that just minutes before, I had been afraid to jump not even a few feet into water to get to the beach, that had been made into a cove by the tide. It was scary, but I conquered my fear. These are the experiences that life is made of.

I went to check out the night market in Vientiane, Laos, only to see the Mekong gently flowing a little ways beyond.

Life is not a piece of paper, with the places you’d like to see and the things you would like to do, if only. If only you had the time, the money, the nerve. Life is happening today.

I once made a list of countries I wanted to visit. It was unending;  it was almost everywhere! I felt defeated just looking at it. Of course, there are so many wonderful places to visit. But looking at this unending list, I realized I could never walk every inch of the earth, or see the view from every step of the Great Wall of China, or appreciate every work of art in the Louvre.

And I wouldn’t want to. I don’t want what I desire to do to become a chore. I don’t want to allocate my time to an arbitrary checklist.

My friends and I only stopped in Tétouan, Morocco, to make a transfer, but we had a few hours to explore. It was an unexpected visit, but one of my favorite evenings of the trip.

That’s all I’m saying here. What is important to you? If you’re going to make a “bucket list,” at least make it your own. And change the name, to a “TO DO ASAP” list. We have no idea how much time we have, and that makes time really, really precious. Spend it wisely.

Happy 2019!

Note: The header image is of Vesuvio, Napoli.