Bucket List?

I couldn't be happier to introduce my first ever Guest Blogger!  Ladies and Gentleman, my fellow ill advised canoeist and cousin,  Mike.

 

I want to start by thanking Patrick for allowing me this opportunity to guest blog.  I appreciate it, Cuz!

My second order of business is to straighten out an ill guided misconception.  We have a running email chain used for a mix of communication, planning and taking pot shots at each other.  As I write this we are just under three months from our trip.  We have two of our three needed canoes, a trailer for hauling the canoes, transportation arrangements, supply lists and some of the Deliverance characters have been assigned.  However, let’s straighten out one thing from the email chain.  I do not want to see Greg in a Speedo and I certainly do not want to see him naked.  There, I feel better!

Since The Bucket List came out in 2007, I have wondered what the appropriate age for starting a bucket list is.  If you start it too early the list will be too long and overwhelming.  If you start it too late then you do not have enough time to cross-off all of your items.  As an actuary, there is a common misconception that I have insight into this matter.  While I can tell you when you are supposed to die, only the good Lord knows when you are actually going to die.  Sorry folks, no help here.

I am coming to realize that we don’t always start our bucket list; sometimes it is started for us.  Like in the movie, diagnosis of a terminal illness is certainly one of these situations.  Sometimes the stars simply align and suddenly you are knee deep into your list.  I believe this second scenario is happening to me.

The summer of 2013 may see three items get crossed off my list.

• While doing the canoe trip has been mentioned many times in the past, we are finally going to make it happen.  Cross off -1.
• Beth and I are not “cruise people” so we decided years ago that if we do a cruise we are going to do an Alaska cruise.  Later this summer, this item will get crossed off the list as well.  Cross off – 2.
• This past Christmas, in lieu of gifts, I asked for money to put towards another one of my dreams.  Sometime before the leaves turn this fall I am going to jump out of an airplane.  Cross off – 3.

Perhaps other forces are at work here as well.  As most of you know, the ‘Uncle Bruce’ that Patrick mentioned in his initial blog is my Dad.  He loved to canoe, so much so that at one point in time we owned not only one, but two canoes.  The canoe I will be using is actually Dad’s.  When I bought our first camping trailer (about 10 years ago) I asked Dad if I could borrow the canoe to take along on those camping trips.  At the end of the summer when I mentioned that I would be bringing it back, he simply said, “Keep it, if I need it I will come get it.”  That canoe, along with Dad’s golf clubs (borrowed/given in a similar manner), are two of my most prized possessions.

I believe that this trip will be a microcosm of life.  Uncle Harry and Uncle Jim have both warned us that parts of the trip are going to suck.  It may rain, it may be hot or it may be cold.  Only time will tell.  I believe much of the trip will be enjoyable and as long as the good outweighs the bad that is all you can ask for.  I have faith that this will hold true because this family certainly knows how to have fun.  Any time we are all together laughter is often a dominate component of our gathering.  One of my lasting memories of Dad comes from this past year’s Family Christmas Party.  We were telling school bus stories when I commented about Mom’s (sorry Mom) bus driver smacking the horse across the ass before they had a chance to sit down.  Amidst the deafening roar of laughter I looked across the room to see Dad almost doubled over as he was laughing so hard.  This is one of the images that I will carry forever.

Part of me wishes we had done this trip while Dad was still alive so he could see his two sons retrace his steps.  However, I have no doubt that he will be with us.  Given his poor heath these last few years perhaps it is actually better this way.  Now, he can enjoy the entire trip instead of simply observing it from a car or truck on the banks of the river.

In closing, there are three things I hope for from this trip:

·         First and foremost, I hope we all survive.  Don’t worry, I have reviewed the mortality tables and we are in good shape.

·         Second, I hope that we create memories and stories that are told and retold for many years to come.

·         Lastly, I hope we make Dad laugh.