Bucket List

Eddy asked this question on the Christian Musicians Forum: Do you have a "Bucket List?" (Sorry, you have to register to see the Coffee Shop where it's posted. Come to think of it, why not join?)



For those of you who are not familiar with the term, a bucket list is a list of things that you want to do before you "kick the bucket." (Made famous by a recent movie)



So, in no particular order, here's my list:

• Go to Ireland. Specifically I would like to visit Buttevant in County Cork. This is where my ancestors on my father's side are from. Daniel Mahoney arrived at Ellis Island June 11, 1899, on the S.S. Teutonic. He could not read or write, and had less that five dollars in his pocket. I would like to go to that place and see what relatives I have, if any.
  
  


• Go to the Far East. I don't know why, but I've always been fascinated by this part of the world, perhaps because it's so different from the west. Specifically, I would like to visit Japan and China. I have relatives who live in Hong Kong (a brother-in-law and his wife) so maybe that can be a doorways some day.
  
  


• Skydive. This is going to sound weird, but I've always wanted to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Maybe it's the ultimate thrill, maybe just doing it... I got close once, very close. Some friends went, but I was short on cash that week.
  
  


• Play on stage in front of a lot of people. Not a couple of hundred; I'm talking five, ten thousand or more. Maybe it's a bit narcisstic, I know, but it's my list!
  
  


• Write a song that gets recorded on a record that goes at least gold. Platinum would be better. That's not asking too much is it? (I have a couple of songs....)
  
  


• Plant a church. I don't know where, yet. (I'm thinking in Belize, but I'm not sure my wife could take the heat. Maybe Caye Caulker. Nice breezes there.) This would be a big step, later in life after the kids are grown and educated. I'll be about 53 when my youngest heads off to college. That's not to late, is it?
  


• Write a really good book. I even know the topic. It will be about my journey from Catholicism through apathy and into God's grace. Catchy, huh? Admit it, you want to read that, right?



• Get my pilot's license. I've actually got some time logged from when I was in college, but it is a very, very expensive hobby. But there is nothing, nothing like the feeling of pulling back on that yolk and leaving the ground.



• Dive on the Blue Hole in Belize. Of course, this would necessitate learning to scuba dive, but who's picking nits?



• Learn a difficult language. I'm not talking Spanish or French or Latin. (Actually I'm passable on the first two, and took two years of the third in high school.) I want to learn Mandarin, or Japanese or even Arabic.


• Get a motorcycle. Ok, that one is admittedly kind of minor. There should be one on the list I can do, no?

What about you? What would you come up with?