{"id":5362,"date":"2020-09-06T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-06T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5362"},"modified":"2020-07-05T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T02:06:22","slug":"my-bucket-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=5362","title":{"rendered":"My Bucket List"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026<\/em>..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A few years ago my cousin Brenda gave me\na decorative tin bucket with a slotted lid. It\u2019s labeled My Bucket List. It\ncame with small pieces of paper for me to write down things I want to do and\nplace them in the bucket. When each desire is completed, I\u2019m supposed to remove\nit from the bucket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at this little tin bucket makes\nme smile. My bucket list philosophy is slightly different. I always put things\non my list after I do them. That way I can say I\u2019ve done everything on my\nbucket list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, for me, life has been an\nadventure. Probably one I wouldn\u2019t have chosen because my expectations as a\nchild were never that high. Born in Missouri, I had never seen an ocean, never\ntraveled outside of a five state radius, never flown in an airplane, or even ridden\na train before I was eighteen. Poor families can\u2019t afford to do a lot but we\nwere happy just watching Disney\u2019s Wonderful World of Color on a black and white\nTV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh sure, I dreamed of being a famous\nsinger or successful actress just like every other kid. But to be honest, I was\nthrilled to graduate from high school, be the first in my family to go to\ncollege, and study to become an elementary school teacher. However, God had\nother plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my senior year in high school, I\nfelt God calling me into a deeper relationship with Him. So after graduation,\ninstead of applying to Harris Teacher\u2019s College in St. Louis, I applied to a\nChristian college in Texas. When I received my acceptance letter, I was flooded\nwith emotions\u2014most were a mixture of elation and fear. I would be on my own\nwith no friends or family. I had never lived away from home so the thought of\nbeing alone and that far away overwhelmed me. I spent much of my preparation\ntime crying\u2014mostly tears of apprehension, not joy. I\u2019ve never been a \u201ccrier\u201d so\nmy parents didn\u2019t know what to do with me. Of course, if I didn\u2019t like it I\ncould always come home, but if I was so miserable, why go in the first place? During\none of my weepy sessions, my dad in exasperation said, \u201cYou won\u2019t last two\nweeks down there!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sniffed and replied, \u201cOh, yes I will!\u201d\nI think I was still tearing up when I boarded the train for Texas \u2013 my first\ntrain ride!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now going to this Christian college was\nnot on my bucket list, but it should have been because God used it to open all\nsorts of doors to adventure. Adventure means unusual, exciting experiences and\nactivities. You know, things you would put on a bucket list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While at college, I got to travel to\nCalifornia with our choral group. I saw my first ocean, my first palm tree, the\nGrand Canyon, my first desert, and even Disneyland \u2013 in color. Our senior trip\nwas to Mexico City, my first time in a foreign country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting married right out of college was\nnot on my bucket list, but it should have been. Oh sure, I would get married\neventually, but first I wanted to travel and see the world. I said yes to the\nproposal even though I cried the night before my wedding. It was that old\nelation mixed with fear feeling again. I still remember my future husband patting\nmy shoulder and saying, \u201cDon\u2019t worry. You\u2019ll like being married.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being married to a pastor is not the\neasiest of lives, but oh what adventures we\u2019ve had! We have lived or traveled\nthrough all but one of the fifty states. (Somehow we missed Maine but plan to\nget there after we retire.) We\u2019ve worked in so many wonderful places from sunny\nFlorida to mountainous Appalachia to inner-city Detroit. We\u2019ve enjoyed down-home\ncooking and ten-course meals served by white-gloved waiters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having a child during the first year of marriage was not on my\nbucket list, but it should have been. I wanted to wait until we had been\nmarried a few years before we had children, so I could spend a few years with\njust my husband, but that\u2019s not the way it worked out. What a joy our three\nchildren have been! How much I have learned from each one of them! It\u2019s as if\nGod said, \u201cYou need children and you need them now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes my bucket list items came just by saying yes to\nopportunities. Going to China wasn\u2019t on my bucket list but we jumped at the\nchance to go with a Better Business Association at an unbelievably low price because\nthey needed people to fill their quota. We jumped at the chance to go to Nigeria\nand Ghana on a mission trip because our way was paid. We jumped at the chance\nto go to Italy because friends had a daughter there studying fashion design and\nwe had free lodging. We\u2019ve ridden camels to the Great Pyramids in Egypt, gone\non safari in Kenya, leaned with the Tower of Pisa, climbed the hill to the\nParthenon, walked in Paul\u2019s footsteps in Ephesus, taken a gondola ride in\nVenice, taken a helicopter ride to a glacier in New Zealand where I ended up in\nwaist deep snow, and trust me\u2014this just barely scratches the surface. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year I added skydiving, parasailing, and zip-lining to the\nlist. So you see, I write things on my bucket list after I\u2019ve done them. Truth\nbe told, I\u2019m not wise enough to know what I should even put on my list. I\u2019ve\nfound that God knows better than I what I really want to do\u2014and with God, the\nadventure possibilities are endless. And praise God, I\u2019m not nearly as fearful\nas I used to be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have I done everything on my bucket list? Yes, I have\u2014and I plan\nto do even more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

*****<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord, I can\u2019t thank You enough\nfor all the experiences You\u2019ve provided in this adventure called life. You\u2019ve\ntaken me places I never dreamed I would ever go. Sometimes I have to look back\non life to appreciate it because it\u2019s hard to see the beauty of something when\nI am too close. It has not always been an easy ride, but You have been with me\nevery mile of the journey. I give You praise and thanks! Not only is my bucket\nlist complete but my cup runneth over. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Journal of Joy: Things that make my heart smile\u2026.. A few years ago my cousin Brenda gave me a decorative tin bucket with a slotted lid. It\u2019s labeled My Bucket List. It came with small pieces of paper for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}