Bucket List

I was in Krakow, Poland for a few days a couple of years ago (which, by the way, if I had to move outside of the United States I would move to Poland, it is seriously the most beautiful country) and all nine of us girls were staying in this hostel. It was about eleven at night and I had just changed into my pajamas after taking a shower. It was really warm in the hostel so I went outside where it was cooler and it was raining. The hostel was on this dark, narrow cobblestone road with narrow tall buildings on either side with small balconies, hung laundry and flower boxes full of red flowers on the windowsills, absolutely and completely European. I tip-toed down the cobblestone street in my bare feet and in my pajamas, in the dark and it was raining and it was glorious. I couldn’t help but think of Singin’ in the Rain, only my situation was even more idealistic than Gene Kelly’s. I love perfectly idealistic situations, and that was one of the most perfectly ideal moments of my entire life. So as I walked down that street I started thinking of things just like that exact situation that I wanted to do before I died, like a bucket list. The sorts of things you see in movies but hardly ever happen in real life.

The first thing I wrote on that list was to go ice skating on an outdoor ice skating rink. Where I grew up, the nearest ice skating rink was an hour and a half away and it was indoors, I had never even seen an outdoor skating rink except for in the movies, until Adam and I went to Chicago over Christmas break and went ice skating on a real outdoor ice skating rink!

It was SO cool to be skating around and be surrounded by sky scrapers and city lights.

How awesome is Chicago?

Here is some of the list. Some of them I have successfully crossed off and some, I’m not sure if they will ever happen (like number 3) and some of them I roll my eyes at (like number 7) but it’s fun to dream.

1. Go ice skating on an outdoor ice skating rink

2. Swing dance in a dance/dinner club with a live jazz band

3. Own a cute, colorful bakery and sell cookies, cakes, pastries, candies, and maybe sandwiches

6. Stay in a cottage covered in vines

7. Make breakfast for my family every Saturday morning

8. See West Side Story live on Broadway

9. Illustrate a children’s book and have it published

10. Watch all the Alfred Hitchcock films

11. Read all the Jane Austen books

14. Listen to a choir perform in an amazing cathedral

18. Walk in the rain in a big city (like Paris or New York)

20. Ride on the back of a moped

22. Have a live big band at my wedding (successfully accomplished, and oh how I loved that big band!)