As my Bucket Day approaches, my list has (happily) gotten much shorter. This is partly because I’ve done a bunch of the things I always wanted, but it is partly because I get lazier and less imaginative as I get older, so given a choice I’m more inclined to stay home and eat than go out and deal with traffic and people and cranky fellow travelers.

Honestly, the HUGE thing on my bucket list is to see my kid out on his own with a job he enjoys and a life he loves. Please note, this is not a critique of him. I reckon this is more on my genetics not screwing me over so I die early than it is on him to hurry up and launch. But it is the big thing, so I feel obliged to share it.

As for things I have slightly more control over—a few of those are still beyond my control. But in a weirdo perfect dream world where money and time and skill and physical ability are no object, here’s my list:

• Get accepted to the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. (This used to just be “finish my novel,” but I did that—at least, sort of. And all the work involved in “publish my novel” is too depressing right now. And “have a best-selling novel” just sounds absurdly arrogant—plus, I’m not at all sure that my sensibilities are best-seller fodder. Maybe I’ll examine all that in another blog post, but for now let’s just say that I’m probably too insensitive, too insular, and too insalubrious.)
  
• Learn some sort of trade. I think I’d go for plumbing. Maybe carpentry. Probably not drywall. (I have no idea if this is achievable. I’m very lazy. And I have a part-time job already. Maybe when I retire—except this circles us back to the previously mentioned hurdles of my being lazy and unimaginative.)
  
• Go on an absurdly long trip—I mean, maybe several months—to see assorted hunks of Britain with the hubs and the kid. (This is not impossible, but definitely unlikely. I reckon we will go for a couple weeks at some point and just hit the high points.)
  
• Go on one of those African photo safaris. (This one is definitely doable!)

What’s on your list?