The Bucket List
It's widely held that a dire diagnosis galvanizes you to re-examine your life, prioritize your goals—and accomplish them. A 2007 movie gave that to-do list a name: the bucket list. The movie had its low humor -- "Never pass up a bathroom, never waste a hard-on, and never trust a fart" -- but The Bucket List, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, aspired to a higher message: Seize the day.
Eventually I added another item: I wanted to take a yoga teacher-training course to learn more about the practice that was helping me cope with cancer.
I've accomplished my bucket list. Though I'll always live in the shadow of my cancer diagnosis, I finished my last Herceptin infusion five years ago, and as of my latest checkup I had no evidence of disease. And six months after my final Herceptin infusion, I completed a yoga teacher-training course.
I'm happy that I made wishes -- and that I got what I wanted -- but I sometimes wonder whether I should have made a longer list. Is there a statute of limitations? Can I add items now? I don't really want to go skydiving or take a safari. I've already been to the Pyramids. Maybe India? Yes! I'd like to add India -- belatedly -- to my bucket list!
What's on your bucket list, and have you checked off any items yet?
The movie had Nicholson and Freeman skydiving, going on safari, climbing the Pyramids, healing family rifts. My bucket list, if you could call it that, was considerably more modest -- or more grand. It had one item. I wanted my old life back, period. I wanted my job, my family and my home to stay the same. I wanted my disease and the scary treatments to go away.
Posted March 16, 2011.
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