THE BUCKET LIST

I'm sure a lot of you out there, like me, have a bucket list. Things you want to do or experience in this life before we make the inevitable journey to the next one. Mine is long and ever changing. Some things I have accomplished and others remain to be completed. And there are some things I have changed my mind about over the years. Bungee Jumping and Skydiving are off the list. I just don't want to do those anymore. And other things have taken their place.

There is a movie from awhile back that I really enjoyed. It's called One Week . It's about a guy who rides his motorcycle from Toronto, Ontario to Tofino, British Columbia. He believes he has cancer so he takes this journey to find himself. I love it. I really believe there is nothing better than a good road trip to take a break from life and discover new places and things.

One of the things on my Bucket List is to visit every province and territory in Canada. And I'm almost there. Yesterday I became one step closer to achieving that dream. I booked a 2 week camping trip to Newfoundland for this summer and I couldn't be more excited. Having a hobby farm it's very difficult to be able to take off for any extended period of time, but this summer I am lucky enough to have someone be able to stay at my house which is absolutely fantastic, so off to Newfoundland it is. For those of you reading this blog that don't know too much about Canada or what Newfoundland is like, here is a good tourism video. Newfoundland Tourism is a great source of information to help you plan your trip to this mighty province. It is the last of the provinces on my list. I have been to every other one, and each is so unique and beautiful. It always puzzles me that so many Canadians jet off to destinations far beyond our own country, but have never explored Canada to see all that it has to offer.

I haven't been camping in a tent for a very long time, and I am so looking forward to experiencing that once again. I love waking up in the morning, the air crisp and cool with the scent of wood smoke wafting through the air. The sound of an axe echoing through the quiet morning and the hiss of the camp stove as you brew that first cup of coffee. I adore the sound of the tent zipper and the rustle of the sleeping bag. Simple pleasures, but good ones, and something I want to ensure my children experience. I hope they love camping as much as I do.

It feels good to be able to cross off another thing on my list. I hope there will be more. Here is a peak at my Bucket List:

See the Northern Lights up North
See a Polar Bear in the wild
Walk the Camino de Santiago
Sail around Cape Horn
Visit all 10 Provinces in Canada and all 3 Territories ( almost there, 2 more territories to go after this summer )
Build my own cabin in the woods
Live off the land
Be off the grid ( take that Nova Scotia Power )
Make sure I do something every day that makes someone else happy
Go dogsledding
Fly in a Glider
Fly in a Hercules ( this may happen very soon with our Search and Rescue team )

Visit the Diary of Anne Frank museum
Fly in a Helicopter
Go deep sea fishing
Drink a Guinness in Dublin
Be published
Try a different food every week
See my kids be everything they want to be
Be a grandmother of lots of babies




Those are just some of my dreams. Many will never happen, but the important thing is to always have that goal or that dream to strive for. Looking back on my life there are many things I have accomplished that I would never have thought were possible. I learned to fly, operate a boat, flew up close and personal to the crater of Mt St Helens and lived on an island all alone with my husband and  kids with nothing but a boat for transportation. These are just a few tiny things that looking back add up to so so much. Life is wonderful. It is what you make it. Only you have the power over your choices and what path you choose in life. If things don't go the way we expect or want, sometimes there is a reason for that. But if you truly want something to the bottom of your heart, the only person that can make that happen is you.