I created a bucket list last year and kept it in my wallet. I didn’t really tell anyone about it because it was so personal. Sometime between October and February I lost it. Sounds like something I would do. I haven’t been able to find it so I decided to create another. After all, I created a New Year’s Resolution list which is essentially a bucket list for the year. It’s April 1st and I’ve been able to keep up with it. So an actual bucket list, why not?

I got to thinking that life is short. There are so many memories to make out there. So many laughter to share with your friends and family. So many tears to cry while watching a movie, listening to an incredible song, or seeing the sweetest act of kindness on the street. So many inside jokes to be created when someone wearing a purple shirt walks pass, when a person starts singing a certain song, or when a car passes on the street. No matter how you feel in the place you currently are in life there are so many possibilities out there.

This new bucket list I have shared fully with my  husband in the hopes that I embrace the activities on there. In the hopes I will be able to build the memories, to avoid the nicks and blemishes all the possibilities have or will give me and show off the flaws that have become trophies of accomplishments in my life. I shared two of the items with my mom because it directly affects her. Shared a few others with others. And now I’m excited about it. While my heart continues to be painted masterfully through my hardships, my identity is being carved with these memories I will be embracing.

Dr. Seuss, who in my opinion was the greatest children’s author of all time, said “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” I don’t want to not know. I don’t want to sit one day and think back at the fun that was created and realize that moment in time taught me something, made me feel something, helped me overcome something. I want to, for the most part, be able to at that very moment in time say, “Damn straight this is what I learned.” The ability to live in the now has never been my forte, but creating this bucket list, being able to see a goal embodied in things that would truly bring meaning to my life is excitable.

For me, a bucket list stands for me not looking just within the box, not staying black and white, not only focusing on the possible and reasonable. The possible and reasonable will never allow me to be myself because my mind has too much imagination to be fit in a box. What I truly want is to live my dreams, to create the memories that will mean more to me when I’m 80 then what is left in my bank account. I want to be able to soar, with no boundaries, to make a difference, to be happy, to live.

What would make life more interesting: the possibility of a dream coming true or just having a dream? Dare to dream and dream big friends. I promise you, there is gold at the end of that rainbow. xoxo