day 15: Bucket List

        ok - just watched the movie "Bucket List". Loved it - as I love anything that makes me think big thoughts about life or about God. The story is about two completely different men, one white, one black. One enormously wealthy, one a middle class auto mechanic. They have two things in common - they both have terminal cancer, and the same hospital room. In the course of meeting and getting to know each other, they start writing up a "bucket list" - things they wished to do before they died. During the course of the movie they see and do some pretty amazing things - go to Everest, the Taj Mahal, drive race cars and go skydiving. And yes, there are some wild comedic scenes when two old men jump out of an airplane, for example, but it's the odd little moments that happen through the movie that hooked me.
They key moment for me were the two questions that Morgan Freeman's character asks Jack Nicholson's character.

Have you found the joy of your life and have you brought joy to others? 

           In the middle of all the things they did from their bucket list, these two questions are the real point of the movie.
           What great questions!
        Have I found the joy of my life? Oh I can answer a resounding yes to that one. There are several joys in my life - and none of them relate to things or money. My wife, my children, my grandson, my students and the worlds most perfect dog, Millie the Wonder Dog - any one of these, when thought on bring joy like nothing else. This one aspect of the movie caused me to remember that in the darkest times of my life, the people I love and those that love me are what pulled me through. Not the infusion of extra money, not a good job - relationships. And I include my dog in this list. Those that have a dog know what I mean when I start gushing on and on about Millie - those that don't get it... well, can't help you there.
          Have I brought joy to others? Pretty presumptuous of me to say yes to this, but according to my father, it's impossible NOT to bring joy into others lives. To some you bring joy simply by arriving... and to others you bring joy by leaving....ok, ok - of course I am joking. But that is a question only others can answer about me. So I will leave it there.
         So... I decided to write my bucket list. And I can't. I really can't. I mean - come on... think about it. I have been married for almost 35 years to someone who knows me COMPLETELY and still wakes up in the same house with me every day.  I have two children who have married well, and are pursuing God and His will for their life. I have the absolutely most incredible grandson in the world who calls out "Boppa!" every time he sees me. I have a dog who day after day thinks that the best thing in her universe is to sit next to me on the couch every night when I get home. Every day I get to get up and go somewhere to teach music to some of the most talented and appreciative kids on the planet. And as if all THAT isn't enough, I get to play guitar every day of my life. There is nothing in my life that I find myself longing for. Nothing. I have pretty much lived my bucket list. Now - this doesn't mean I am getting ready to kick the proverbial bucket... but I honestly cannot think of anything to add to my life that isn't already in it. God, friends, family, music...my dog...nothing left to add. No desire to skydive, climb Mt Everest, or meet someone famous.
A great movie. I'm gonna watch it again.
Mr G