January 25: My Own Bucket List

People always talk about how they wish they could do this or they've always wanted to try that. And, let me tell you, when you're making a conscious effort to have a new experience every day, that kind of thing seems to always be in the forefront of your mind. This evening, as I thought about the day and any new things I may have stumbled across in the process of just living, I realized that I too am guilty of such extravagant expressions as "man, someday I'm going to do that!" I've just never drafted such a list in order to be able to start planning some of these things and slowly checking them off. So, instead of doing what I usually do and promising myself I would do it sometime soon, I grabbed a pen and took the liberty of inking a bucket list of things that I'd like to try, do, learn or see before my own departure from this world. And, now I will share that list, as it stands today, with all of you (in no particular order, of course):

• Field a ground ball on the infield of a Major League ballpark
  
• Learn to speak Polish fluently
• Visit Poland
• Visit Ireland
• Author a book or screenplay
• Taste a $100 bottle of wine
• Go diving from the inside of a shark cage
  
• Own a business
• Paint my own masterpiece on canvas
• Run a marathon (okay, maybe just a 5k)
• Skydive
• Have a meaningful conversation with a famous celebrity
• Drive a $100,000 vehicle
• Drive a car at speeds of well over 100 mph (safely, of course)
• Live in another state
• Own season tickets for a professional sports team
• Climb a mountain (a very small mountain)
• Learn how to dance the jitterbug (mostly for my Mom)
• Participate in a ghost hunting expedition
• Travel the world with my wife
• Own a condo in Florida (hey, you gotta retire somewhere)
• Read an entire book via a Kindle
• Give a very generous donation to a charity
• See one ballgame at every MLB stadium in the U.S.
• Dine at a restaurant owned by a famous chef (we're talking Gordon Ramsey here)