Are there things you want to do before you die? Have you given it any thought?

You beat me to it! I was going to ask the very same question for the very same reasons. Your discussion is as close to the way I would have worded it, so much so, that I had to respond. 'When I was younger there were a lot of thigns I wanted to try and I think at 57 I can say I tried most of them at least once........Notice the age difference. Not much.... Hot Air balloon is on my Bucket List as of two days ago. I've never been the adventurous type either, although I've had the pleasure of doing more things in my lifetime than most people I know. One thing my mom always told me and I never forgot was that I could do anything I wanted to if I put my mind to it and made a little effort. I think that's why I've been able to do the things I've done in my life. That and the determination I have. If someone tells me I can't do something, that's all the more reason to try it, just to prove to myself (and them) that I can. I haven't gotten very far on my bucket list because when I come with something I think would be fun or exciting to do, I've already done it. I've had a full and exciting life so far with so much more to do and see. I would like to go to Israel to the Holy Land to experience whatever it is I could. Everyone I know comes back with a different story to tell and how it effects their life. I would like revisit a lot of the places I did when I was younger for the simple reason I didn't have the capacity to appreciate some of the things I did or saw. For instance, I lived in Hawaii for several years but for some strange reason, I never visited Pearl Harbor. I also lived in San Francisco for a time, but never rode a streetcar. How odd is that? So those two things, seeing Pearl Harbor and riding a streetcar are on the list. Wow, now I have new additions to my Bucket List, thanks to you. The big one is my husband and I are planning to RV to each state in the U.S. as soon as he retires. That's gonna be some fun - I just know it. Thanks for the discussion. I'm glad someone started it.

I have given this a whole bunch of thought since being diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gehrig's Disease in January, 2004. I knew at the time that I would keep getting worse and worse and lose abilities. Tons of people knew this, and even promised to take me to places that they knew I loved, especially the beach. At the time I was diagnosed, I still drove and walked with a cane. Now, I have to use a wheelchair. In the spring of that year, my sister and her family went to Disney World. They didn't ask me to go along. That summer, they only invited me to their private beach club three times. The next summer, they invited me tice, and last summer, not at all. I now have to be driven; I had to give up driving. Friends know how much I love museums, and just meandering around Manhattan. This happened about three times, and now not at all. Although I can still drive myself in the wheelchair, and can get around by para-transit, friends don't come around anymore. I can no longer talk, and most people think it is too bothersome to go with me anywhere because they have to talk for me, and feel uncomfortable because I use a computer that "talks" for me. Even when I bring my aide along to help me with eating[I can feed myself, but I need help cutting up food and getting utensils and straws], I guess they feel they don't want to be with someone who is disabled. ALS is fatal, and I could die any time. So my "bucket list" has to be things I can do alone or have done for me. One of the things I would love, is to be able to take a shower again, and cook. I can't get into my kitchen and bathroom with the wheelchair. I need modifications which will cost anout $7,000, money I don't have. I wish for the money to get this done. Right now, I have to use a portable commode to use as a toilet in my living room, and my aide has to give me sponge baths. I hate that I can't take a shower; it's degrading. I wish I could have friends to walk through Manhattan with. I want to write a book before I die; I am working on that now. There are so many places I have not traveled to yet, and I want to find someone who will go with me on a cruise [cruises are very handicap-friendly] And I want to see the ocean again [it's only a half-hour away]

There is only one thing that I would love to do before I die but I know the chances are very low on that one and that is to swim with a Dolphin

My only concern is that something I've done in my life might have a lasting effect on someone else. Did I make a mark for good? Will anyone notice I am gone. Did my life's work have any meaning to anyone but myself? It seems as if I am getting a little more introspective and philosophical in my old age. LOL.

Sometimes I read about far away places and think...how sad, there's another beautiful place on this earth that I will never see. Even though the idea of travelling interests me, I just don't see myself doing it and I can't explain why. I do have things I want to do and intend to do, and there are things that I've already begun working on.

It's funny, ctry, but, had you asked me that question 5 or 6 years ago, my answer would have been very different than it is today. I guess, for me at least, passing the 60 mark has pretty much made me content to just live life quietly and enjoy all my adventures via books, movies, and TV shows. I admit there was a time that I wanted to set the world on fire, but reality has taken much of the wind out of my sails. I would, however, like to be in better shape financially before I kick the bucket, lol.

Yes, before I die I would like to explore the philosophical side to life. My division of my life is simple enough. I am 35, my kiddo is 8. I have flirted, loved, married, had children, my own house, my family, their love, little pleasures of life and a big helping of the Lord’s blessings. I really lack nothing in life right now and if things go this way, I would not lack anything any day. I know my limitations and within them I am very very happy. So by the time I am 50, I will have 25 years of marriage and a son who would be 23. Have had enough of family life, son grown up (doesn’t need momma anymore), completed responsibility towards hubby, parents most probably gone by then…so whatever will be left of my life, I would like to pursue the abstract, the soul, the spiritualism which encompasses each one of us yet which few of us actually comprehend. My only hope is that the Lord should afford me this luxury.

This is not something I have given serious thought to. But at my age of nearly 50 years, I guess it is timely. I definitely would like to spend as much time as possible travelling around Australia in a caravan with my husband. That is my number one priority. I have already been overseas numerous times, but sometime in the next 5 years I want to go on a wildlife Safari in Africa with my daughter & husband. Later on, I would like to visit New Zealand.

You know i have heard a lot of people talk about things like this but i have never really thought about what i would like to do..I did go to Hawaii for a vacation and stayed 14 days and that was fun..I did at one time travel with my husband when he was a truck driver and we went to many places, and we saw a lot of beautiful things, but basicially all places are mostly the same in reality.i mean they have different places of entertainment but when you actually get there its the same most everywhere..I did not see a place that i would really just love to live, it was nice to visit but not to live there...I am a believer in after life, I wonder what i will do when that time comes.My Mom raised me very strick in the religious things and i want to make sure i go to the right place, that bothers me more than anything..

I would like to see someone, an old friend, before I die. He had been out of the country for two years and I would love to see him again before I die. :)

I haven't thought that before.I know time is so precious that you can waste it.So I value every day's time.I need to work hard and then I will travel the interesting place.

The bucket list shows me that those two guys have gotten old and are sad that they have to make those sort of movies. I think it's pointless to make a list of things you want to do before you die. You never know whether you'll die tomorrow of 10 years from now or 50 years from now. Live each day like it is the last day. Then you'll never have to have a wish list.

actually, i think all people have things they wanna do... not only before they die... i for one, have a long list of things i really wanna fulfill before i age and die. there are even times when i also think about how i'm gonna die and where would that take place. i even told my boyfriend that if i'm gonna die early, i want the wake to become lively. i don't wanna see sad faces when i die (as if i'm gonna be able to see that!) i'm still young and i hope that sometime in the future,i'll be able to finish off the dreams i've been keeping eversince i was a child.

I agree, I've never been very adventerous either. But I havent really given it any thought. I am the type of person that just pushes fantasy out of the way, and just stay in relaity.