I recently asked a retired person about her plans for retirement. I was curious to see if travel was going to be one of her goals. I knew she watched the travel channel shows here and there so I asked if there were any specific trips she planned on taking. She answered, “Gina, I have so many buckets!” 

So many buckets. I thought about this as I heard it. The generation gap and language barrier influenced her particular answer. When you think about it, in the English language we have created the phrases, “bucket list” as well as “what do you do to fill your bucket?” The first implies your life’s goals upon retirement and the second is a new phrase to me in which a close, middle-aged relative introduced to me. She often talks about what she does to “fill her bucket” meaning how she finds satisfaction and therapeutic activities. She has embarked on daily yoga as one of her “fill her bucket” activities, for example. Others do more volunteering, gardening, artistic pursuits, etc.

In my retired friend’s answer, “I have so many buckets!”, I realized that she saw this expression as a visual set of actual buckets, not a bucket LIST as we refer to the phrase. Instead of “the bucket” being one metaphorical object , she saw the individual goals, trips, activities as actual, individual buckets; one by one. Like my friend who analyzes how people fill their buckets (with goals, activities, fulfillment), the word “bucket” has been interpreted as either something you “kick” or something you “fill”. I was entertained and inspired by the different perspectives.

Either way, I like their individual interpretations of the word “bucket” much more than the “kick the bucket” list visual. Theirs’ focused on fulfillment while the popular kick the bucket phrase connotes deadlines, (oops–a pun!), pressures, commitment.

Retired people have decades of working behind them as well as  the middle- aged people  however, they also have more time to fill their buckets before they start on their bucket lists. But it was interesting to contemplate how each of these people dear to me were going to proceed with their present lives.

Here are some bucket list items many friends shared with me:

• getting an art business up and running
• road trips to explore every big U.S. landmark
• ride in a hot air balloon
• to drive a horse and buggy like the old days
• I’d love to see the northern lights
• Several different travel destinations I haven’t made it to yet including some big climbs and hikes
• Richard Petty Driving school… zoom zoom zoom!
• Live in Italy and travel around Europe while there
• Cape Epic
• Attend a summer Olympic Games (already been to a winter one)
• check some items off my ever growing travel bucket list (Treetops Hotel, Bali, New Zealand)
• I want my husband to drive me around on back roads to different states and take pictures of barns, farms and just life of people along the way.
• to go to Madagascar, Australia
• Go on an African photo safari
• old world wine tour
• zip lining thru the rain forest in Costa Rica
• a global health trip to Greece this February.
• Practice rural, deliver babies, serve on the ACOFP BoG again, and get my FACOFP
• Visit all 50 states & every Major League Baseball park
• Do the St James Pilgrimage, visit several international destinations like Buthan, Egypt, Jordan
• All the national parks. We’ve done 25 but all is my husband’s bucket. And safari
• Bhutan is always on my list! Hopefully one day!
• Read all the Newberry award (children’s lit) winning books by its 100th year (2022).
• Write a book! I have always wanted to do that.
• See the gorillas in the wild.
• Thailand beaches

What are you doing to fill your bucket?   What are the items on your bucket list?

They can be independent, concurrent, or undiscovered. Grab a pen and paper and start planning.

© Gina Michalopulos Kingsley