Once in a while it is nice to take a few days off. This last week, my wife and I spent four days in Portland with my sister and her husband, enjoying the sights of the big city that is within 90 miles, but I have never previously explored. They were doing their west coast tour starting in San Diego, visiting relatives and friends along the way. And since they are both retired, they have more time and fewer responsibilities, so they can travel more – visiting different sites and checking off to-dos on their bucket list.
You probably know the term “bucket list” from the movie of the same name starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman about two terminally ill men taking a road trip to fulfill their wish list before they “kick the bucket”. And many of you may have a bucket list, but if you don’t or you want to update your’s, here are several suggestions by Al Bernstein, a noted psychologist who has written about “bucket lists”.
1) Your bucket list can be more than visiting your ancestral homeland. Give yourself time to reflect on your interests first, before choosing your destinations.
2) Make a list for just one year – you can also keep a “sometime” list to review later.
3) Keep your list short and mix large and small goals. Or identify just one goal. When it is accomplished, choose another.
4) And stay real. Keep your list financially and physically within reach. You may have a goal of a two week tour of the historic sites of Scotland (where, I must modestly add, the modern world was invented) but unless you rob a bank, you may not be able to afford it.
Making a list gives you a chance to reflect on your dreams and goals – what is important to you, before you “kick the bucket”. But don’t spend all your time and energy creating your list. As Al Bernstein points out, “It’s not the listing, it’s the doing that’s important.”
The Center’s cozy NU-2-U Shop offers some of the best used clothing in the area and at the lowest prices. Rhonda Townsend sorts through the donated clothes every Monday so she can restock the racks with only the best clothes – in addition to the always popular small blankets she makes out of scrap material. The NU-2-U Shop is open from 10:00 – 1:30 Monday through Friday, and later upon request.
The Center has only two trips left this summer. The trip to Portland for lunch on the Portland Spirit is full – although we are still taking names for the waiting list. But there are still two seats left for the matinee performance of Wicked on Thursday, August 6th for $75 a piece Call or stop by the Center if you are interested.
Once again, thanks to Flagstone Senior Living for sponsoring the Cowboy Breakfast that served over a hundred adults and children. And to The Springs at Mill Creek for catering the delicious dinner served after the Center’s Annual Membership Meeting.
At the Center on Tuesday, August 4th, Andre, KC and Tom will be performing. Doors open at 6:00, music starts at 7:00, everyone is welcome, and donations are appreciated.
The name of the Pulitzer prize winning humorist who poked fun at the shortcomings of celebrities and politicians and was best known for his long-running column in The Washington Post was Art Buchwald. (And the winner of three quilt raffle tickets is Neal Cassady.)
This week’s “Remember When” question is from a post by Amanda Cecil on the Barnes and Noble’s Nook Blog suggesting five books to put on your “bucket list”. One of the books is based on this author’s notes as he traveled across America with his friends in the late 1940’s. What was the name of the author and the book he wrote – considered the defining work of the postwar Beat generation?
Email your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or mail it with the book’s manuscript typed on a continuous, one hundred and twenty-foot scroll of tracing paper sheets.
Well, it’s been another week, trying not to strike out in the bottom of the ninth. Until we meet again, take time to celebrate each day of these bonus years.
“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” Art Buchwald
