Do you wonder what life has in store? Do you ever look back and think ‘is that all I did?’
Having kids is full of questions about what they will do when they grow up; so far Curly Headed Boy has been a super hero, astronaut, dancer, pop star and is at the moment planning on inventing rocket shoes. Whatever Little Dimples is going to be, she’ll be rock hard at it, that’s for sure!
Add that to being nearly 42, and I must admit that the thought of what I want to with the rest of my life has been rolling around in there quite a lot. It’s less to do with work and family; having the kids is definitely the best thing I ever did, and I love my ‘Mummy Whisperer’ work. It’s more to do with the concept of ‘the bucket list’; what do I want to do before I kick the bucket?
Do you have a bucket list? Whats on yours: maybe I can pinch some ideas?! I have lots of vague ideas, and loved the program about the gap years that the families took together. One of my neighbours is off to Ibiza this year for her 40th; I’m not sure about the clubbing side of it, but it does have a good reputation for being a good new agey location too. Another friend is off to Peru for a shamanistic journey, which I often rather fancied, but not now I have kids. Both sound good, but they aren’t quite me.
It’s slightly easier to list what I’m not interested in ..
- I’m not keen on massive crowds, which kind of rules out Hong Kong, and much of India.
- I’m not keen on huge hotels
- I love a short shop, but couldn’t shop for days on end, so although I’d like to see New York one day, I’m not worried about the whole shopping experience.
- I’m not much bothered by architecture, I prefer beautiful countryside, but there are some buildings which can have an amazing atmosphere, which would work for me.
- It doesn’t have to be full on luxury, but I’m not up for cleaning/cooking when on holiday (that might change, but at the moment it wouldn’t feel much like a holiday).
- Camping sounds romantic, but I can’t bear huge piles of technical kit, so one of those gorgeous ready to go yurts sounds better. Plus I remember being incredibly ill in a tent in France after I discovered I’m allergic to muscles, it did’t really leave me with a fondness for small tents.
- I loved being in a caravan when I was a kid, but that was in france, so I think that it was partially the atmosphere as well. Not sure why I was eating tomato ketchup with spam though? Not sure I’m up for trawling a caravan around all the time around the UK. I’ve had a huge fantasy about VW campervans for years, but I do wonder whether that is all fantasy (I’ll have to ask my mate who is off in one this year and see how it goes for her!).
- I don’t need to rave into the early mornings, but I would love to learn to dance latin american, and I love being outside on a warm evening watching the sunset or watching the sunrise.
- Some countries are more appealing because of the people and the culture than others; you know me, I’m a big people watcher!
Hmm, I think that my problem in getting explicit about my bucket list is my lack of geographical knowledge, its a shame I didn’t concentrate a bit more at school. So looks like this is going to have to be a longer term project and I need a big atlas.
Any ideas gratefully accepted …. where did you go, or what did you do that you wouldn’t want to have missed out on? Or what do you plan on doing in the next 40 yrs? It looks like my criteria are: atmosphere, beautiful landscapes, not having to cart a pile of crap with us, not too many people, dancing,
In the meantime, here’s a little video for you …… Garbage and ‘When I grow up’
Right, gotta go, my kids are trying to put each other in buckets: half term, oh the bliss!