My Bucket List

Last week a co-worker presented me with a farewell gift in advance of my retirement.  It was a beautiful My Bucket List Journal.

In the front of the journal is a place to list the top 100 things you want to complete before kicking the bucket.  Following the list are pages for the date, why it’s on my list, where I travelled, who I was with, the details of the event and would I do it again.  Then, of course, as each item is completed you cross it off the list.

In my blog post “Throwback Thursday” I wrote:

“As a young girl, my room had dozens of horse figurines on shelves decorating the walls because I was always fascinated with their beauty and the freedom one feels astride the magnificent creature.  To feel the wind in your hair as the countryside passes you by is to experience something wonderful.  In riding a horse, we borrow freedom.”

“I think I will celebrate my first day of retirement by finding a stable and going for a ride to truly feel free.”

Today, as I was puttering around National Geographic’s Your Shot Photo Community, I came across a photograph taken by Amy Capparelli of her Yorkshire Terrier Gilligan interacting with a manatee at the dock by her house.

I immediately began to reminisce about my experience snorkeling in Cozumel’s Chankanaab Lagoon and the beauty of sea life.  I immediately began to think about what an adventure it would be to swim with manatees.

Everybody wants to swim with dolphins, something I did way back in 2004 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Oahu, but I have always been fascinated with these roly-poly teddy bears of the sea.

It looks like the very next thing on my bucket list is going to be a jaunt to Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River, FL.