My Bucket List

1. Write and publish a book. (Hopefully one that will then get made into a movie!)
2. See my kids graduate from High School.
3. See my kids graduate from College.
4. See my kids get married.
5. Become a grandmother.
6. Renew my wedding vows.
7. Put together treasure boxes of significant gifts and cards with handwritten notes for big milestones/occasions for my children to have in case I'm not here to celebrate them in person.
8. Put together scrapbooks of myself for each child.
9. Take my family to Disney World and ride Splash Moutain and Thunder Mountain Railroad more than the 8 times we rode it at Disneyland!
10. Finish stripping the wall paper from my bathroom and bedroom walls (a project I started about 9 years ago and never finished!) and redecorate/paint it the way I've always envisioned it.
11. Get all of my papers/affairs/arrangements in order now while I am still able.
12. Go through the boxes and piles in my house/garage and simplify our lives!
13. Landscape our backyard.
14. Be the change I want to see in the world...
15. Redecorate Spencer's room so he doesn't have a little car and truck border at age 12 going around the top of his walls!
16. See my kid/s play college sport/s (if they so choose!)
17. See Spencer get his first girlfriend.
18. See my kids become teenagers and all that goes with that.
19. Grow old with my husband.
20. Take Kaelin to see Cirque du Soliel

To be continued....

Have you heard of this movie yet? "The Bucket List." It's based on a book and it stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and it's about a list of things to do before you "kick the bucket". In other words, things you want to see/do/accomplish before you die.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Starting to compile my own list. There aren't a lot of things that I can tangibly do/see/accomplish and check off my list without "time". Time plays a key factor in my list. And most things I've been thinking about involve my kids and big bench marks in their lives as they grow older and experience life. So I'm having trouble putting together a list that I can run through and actually do/see/accomplish and check things off. I'm not sure how much time I actually have. It's a scary thought. But one I have to face.

When I was diagnosed in June 2006, I only had one regret at the time. I regretted that I didn't force Kaelin go to Nationals in gymnastics when she qualified and made the Regional team in spring 2006. It was in West Virginia and I wanted to go so badly. But she wanted nothing to do with it. She was scared and nervous and only 6. It was too much for her. So I listened to her, and we gave up her spot on the Regional team thinking that she's only 6 and there will be many more years she'll make it to Nationals. I couldn't wait to experience that! And then I got diagnosed and all heck broke loose. All that I could think of was that I wasn't going to ever get to see her compete at Nationals. That I missed our chance to experience that together. That was my only real glaring regret that ate at me in terms of missed opportunities that I should have taken at the time.

But then the next spring came around and she made the team and she wanted to go and it was in Boston and a couple of her buddies also made the team. I almost didn't get to go because I was diagnosed with pnumonia less than a week before! I was even on a chemo break. Kaelin didn't want to go without me. I got well enough in a few days to go and we went and had the best experience! We had so much fun exploring Boston with our friends and the big group that went from our gym. And she ended up 9th place all around at Nationals in her age group in Level 5.


You can see the photos here:


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaMWjVo2ZNmLjw

Do all of you out there have a "Bucket List" started? What are you waiting for? xoxox Shauna


p.s. This is a photo of Kaelin and I with our new hats we got today! We went to the mall to spend our gift cards we got for Christmas and while there, we looked in every single store for hats! We found these in Macy's and they were marked down to $12 each! Kaelin wanted a matching hat, so we both got one! Aren't we cute? This style hat is totally working for me right now. It's got enough height and it's low enough around the ears to hide my head. So I don't look "bald", just stylish! LOL

Notice Kaelin's cast. She won't let anyone sign it, but they can put a piece of masking tape on it with their signatures! LOL