Bucket Lists – Everyone Has a Bucket List!

Lots of bucket list ideas to choose from

Things have been really busy lately since the full launch of our site. I’m finally out from behind the computer (whew!) and am busy building a new life as well as reaching out to industry experts. It’s so great getting to meet so many amazing, smart, and kind people.

This past week we constructed our SevenPonds Pinterest page – check it out since we are quite proud! Included on our Pinterest is a “Bucket List” and bucket lists are popular these days. Everyone has some sort of bucket list of what they want to see, do, or accomplish in their lifetime. You need not be terminally ill to have a one, but if you are, it sure pushes the most important items to the top of your list. There is no lack of ideas for bucket lists, as any web search will attest to. Be it the film Bucket List or the “1001” must-do series of books that range from films and whiskies, to places to travel – all to delightfully accomplish before you die.

And then there’s Roman.

All week I had Roman in my head and it got me thinking about more then a bucket list. Years ago when I lived in Michigan I went to the Beverly Hills Club, a health club, to get massages by a man named Roman. He was exceptionally good at massage. Then one day he asked me if I would like an extra half hour since he had time in his schedule. I was fine with it. After the massage he followed me to the checkout counter and as I went up to the desk, whispered, “Tell them you only had an hour.” I looked at Roman, confused; and he repeated, “Tell them you only had an hour.” But I didn’t and I paid for the extra time. I never saw Roman again.

Roman followed me to the checkout counter

When I returned for a massage, I found out he had died of leukemia. Then I understood. Unbeknownst to me, he was near the end of his life. The extra massage time he insisted I take was his “gift of dying” to me. I was eternally touched. What an endearing kind of gift.

So all week I had Roman in my head. Each time I see him standing close to the checkout counter, whispering his gift to me. And I see his eyes saying goodbye in a way I completely understand now.

We should all have a gifts of dying list too. Had you the chance – would you?

Read past posts from our SevenPonds blog:

• Check out an urban art project opening the conversation with a public bucket list.
• An interview with Dr. Laura Delizonna discusses making a bucket list happen.
• A dying girl shares her endearing bucket list with the world.
• Read about the film “Bucket List” in our Multimedia section.