My Bucket List

I was thinking about a what would be on my bucket list tonight---don't ask me why---and I came to the conclusion that I am very much a simpleton.  Well,  I already knew I was a simpleton but this conclusion was reinforced.   I just could not come up with many ideas for my bucket list.  For those who don't know, a "bucket list" is a list of things you would like to do before dying.   Some people have great romantic ideas what they want to do such as run a marathon, climb Mt. Everest or go skydiving.  Perhaps, I just don't have a great imagination or maybe I can't get over the money restriction (heck, I can't even imagine what I'd want to do if I had an unlimited financial source)  So I came up with ten ideas for my bucket list and some of my rational.

1. Be the best husband and father I can be.  This doesn't seem like something that would be #1 on a bucket list perhaps but I do think it's the most important thing in my life that I could do.  Maybe I'm doing that now--sometimes it seems like I'm doing a great job, other times it seems like I'm failing miseraby.  The thing is, I can't say I've completed this goal until I'm dead.  Only then will I know that I've done my best to raise my children and have been a good husband.
2. Visit Rome-Live in Rome-I could spin several other ideas for my list off of this one---visit all of the major cathedrals, meet the pope,  climb the scala santa.  I have so many things I want to do in Rome that I could spend a month there and still not see everything that I want.  Maybe I should change it to, "Live in Rome."
3. Visit all major league baseball parks.  I've been to a total of two, count them, ONE, TWO--2 major league baseball parks.  I wish I would have made it to New York to go to Yankee Stadium before it closed but I missed out so I want to see all of the others--from Boston to Minnesota to Texas to Seattle.
4. Go to all 162 Royals games in one year.  I figured Abby and I could travel the country for six months, living in an RV.  I'm not sure she's ever really bought into the idea.  Maybe I'd settle on flying to all of the different cities.
5. Be fluent in Spanish.  I went to a Spanish Immersion course for ten weeks last spring and have retained none of it.  To be honest, ten weeks just was not long enough and I really wish I would have put in for the five week trip to Mexico to be truly immersed.
6. Learn to fly a plane.  I've wanted to fly since I was a kid.  In fact, when I was younger, I wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force.  But then I learned how much better the Marine Corps is and gave up on my dream of flying to be a Marine.  A good trade off in my opinion.
7. CrossFit goals.  I have several of them.  I want to learn how to kip so I can do pull ups.  I want to be able to do muscle ups.  I would love to be a CrossFit certified trainer and help others experience CrossFit.  For right now, I'd just be happy if my lungs cooperated and my exercise induced asthma didn't kick my butt on the majority of workouts so that I would perform better.
8. Be a great youth speaker.  I love being a catechist.  The only problem is that I'm not a very good speaker.  I want to be like some of these guys with charisma who can have teens just mesmerized and fill the youth with the Holy Spirit.  I'd love to be a speaker traveling across the country to different parishes or youth conferences at Steubenville or NCYC.
9. Have a few beers with some of my favorite Catholic speakers/bloggers.  I don't want to just meet them.  I want to spend time with them.    I was able to spend time at a St. Louis Cardinal's game with Fr. Jim Chern last summer and had a blast.  I'd love to spend some of my other favorites.  Can you imagine drinking with Mark Hart or Danielle Bean?  I think I'd have an incredible time!
10. Be in-studio on The Catholic Guy Show.  I'd be happy just to sit in the background but how cool would it be to be interviewed for the show.  Alas, that's not going to happen because there is nothing about me that would make a good interview but how cool would it be just to sit there and watch all of the things going on behind the scenes.
11. (A throw in)  Be the best friend I can be.  Kind of goes along with #1 so why not make the this the other book mark.  Being a good friend is important to me.  Obviously, it's not as important to me as #1---that's my vocation.  But being a good friend is important because like I've said before--family HAS to like you but friends can tell you to take a long walk off of a short pier.

Like I said, not real flashy.  Nothing on there that others will go, "OH!!  I want to do that too!"  No running with the bulls for me----getting my kids ready for school in the morning is scary enough.  What do you have on your bucket list?