"The Bucket List"

"The Bucket List" is a 2007 film directed by Rob Reiner, written by Justin Zackham, and starring Academy Award winners Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. It's a comedy, and I remember enjoying the humor, despite the seriousness of the situation. 

Laughing can be such a gift, and a lift of the heart.  If Mike was remembered for one thing, I believe it would be for his sense of humor first.  No matter how serious life was, Mike tried to lift every one's burden, including his own, by seeing the funnier side of things.  If I was the crier, he was the one cackling....often times at me, crying. :)  He always saw the glass half full.  He left life, fighting cancer.  He would never want to be thought of succumbing to it. 

It still amazes me what he ever saw in me, since we were mostly polar opposites.  But we shared many wonderful dreams together, and we loved talking....about everything and nothing.  We could talk for hours.  We'd discuss things we wanted to do one day, and even though a lot of them may have been far range goals, we did set a few short term goals too.

For some silly reason, I have found comfort in accomplishing a few things lately, Mike and I had once discussed, wanting to do.  We took a cruise once, and when the rule was made into law, that to travel outside of the US, would require a passport, Mike wanted us to get ours.  This was just months before his diagnosis.  Obviously, we had no plan of going anywhere.  I made it my goal to get that passport now....just because Mike wanted us to get it.  I may never go anywhere...but that doesn't really matter to me.  It was fulfilling, just to receive it in the mail.

Another goal was contacts.  Mike and I didn't need to wear glasses full time until a couple of years ago, so we missed the freedom we had just to have nothing on our face, and not be worried about losing our glasses or sitting on them.  So we made another short term goal to get contacts.  It probably would have been easier for Mike to accomplish this dream, being he had better eyesight than I do.  He just needed a little help reading.  I'm left with the challenge of having one lens for farsightedness, and one for nearsightedness.  Both of my eyes have astigmatism in them.  I have no clue how this is going to work...and my eye doctor didn't seem convinced I would be successful either, but I want to try. 

My biggest hurdle has been overcoming the urge to blink when I see a charging finger coming at my eye.  Another hurdle has been seeing very well, period!  I can't believe the doctor is allowing me to get behind the steering wheel like this.  I feel a lot like Mr. Magoo.  Please watch out if you see me driving down the road!  I'm suppose to be rechecked in a week, so I'm praying I make great strides over these next few days, or that he'll realize he didn't give me the strength of the lens I need in my right eye.

If nothing less, I gave it a good try.  Succeeding isn't always getting what you want.  I wanted a lifetime with Mike.  God gave me a lifetime, in 35 years of life with Mike.  I could never argue that God's will isn't good.