It seems that when anyone has, or is approaching, a birthday that includes a zero in it there’s some sort of unwritten rule about writing a bucket list. This year I turned 40 and to be honest there’s so much going on in my life in 2018 that turning 40 hasn’t really featured much in my plans.
I’ve bought a house, moved house, got pregnant, got engaged and before the year is out I’ll be getting married and giving birth. Turning 40 happened somewhere in the middle of all that. Slap bang in the middle of the year in July in fact.
It’s got me thinking though. So many people have bucket lists of things that they want to do before they turn 30 or 40, but I’ve not seen so many things looking at it the other way. Things to do once you’ve turned 40, or a guide to life after 50. My recent exploits with the WI have really shown me that life is for the living and that’s what I’m determined to do going forwards.
Having totally missed the opportunity to write that pre-40 bucket list I’ve decided to turn it on its head somewhat and instead write a bucket list for the next 20 years of my life. One that will cover off all my kids reaching adulthood, and therefore the freedom that not having small kids in the house will give me.
Build and grow our family
Between the ages of 40 and 60, or more accurately before 2018 is out, I’ll be getting married and having a baby. Two fundamental steps in being a new family. Add in three existing children, and it goes without saying that family is going to be a fundamental part of the next 20 years. Blended families aren’t always the easiest of things, but I’m determined to make a success of it and am prepared for the hard work it is likely to entail.
See the world
We’ve finally got round to putting up a huge map of the world that I’ve been carrying around with me for years. My plan had always been to decorate it with pins showing the places that I’ve been lucky enough to travel to. That’s exactly what I’ve now done, but it’s made me realise two things – how much more of the world there is to see, and also how many places I want to go back to with Bonn (and our baby).
That’s therefore what I want to do. Heck, we have a travel blog, so we really out to try to fill it with as many adventures as possible. My aim is six continents and a total of 50 countries over my life-time. Let’s see if it’s possible.
Pay off my mortgage
It may seem a bit boring, but this is something I really want to get ticked off in the next 20 years. We’re scheduled to do it, so now I just need to make it happen. I want to make sure that once we get to 60 we’re totally secure in a house that is owned by no-one except us (although I’m of course extremely grateful to the Building Society that provide us a mortgage at the moment!)
Get organised
There’s so much that I want to do, and four kids to juggle in the mix too, that I realise that the only way I am going to be able to do all this is to be organised. I’m starting to get on top of everything, but I just need to really make it happen.
Turn our house into a home
When we bought this house the potential we saw in it to be a family home was its biggest draw. I want to make that happen. Even just in the last few weeks we’ve cracked on with various projects and made quite a difference, but I need to push it all forwards even more. Not be in a situation where we laugh about all those jobs that we’ve been putting off for 20 or more years.
Give my kids every opportunity possible
I want to give my kids the world – that goes without saying. Most of all though I want to prepare them for adult life so they can hit the ground running and be as successful as possible. I want to seek out as many opportunities for them, around the world, as possible and try to enable them to happen. Whatever it may be – seeing the sights, work experience opportunities, opportunities to learn – I want them to be able to do anything they want, and to support them in any way I can.
Do something reckless
I used to work with a woman whose ambition in life was to get an ASBO. I should add that she was a 50+ year old life-time civil servant who was about to retire. She figured that she’d had enough of being boring and sensible, and she figured that the way to shake off that image was to go and get an ASBO. I’ve no idea if she ever did, but I like to think so.
Become properly proficient in a craft
I dabble in so many crafts. Even more so since I joined the WI, but I just don’t feel like there’s one of them that I’m completely proficient in. I desperately want to teach myself how to do dressmaking properly, and surely having a new baby is a good opportunity to do that. They’re not going to complain if seams are a bit wobbly. Well at least not straight away!
If it turns out that dressmaking isn’t my thing then I plan to turn my hand more to crochet. This has taken more of a back seat over the last year, but I was getting rather good at it. If I say so myself. So what I need to do is actually fine tune my art.
Have fun
This is the one that should probably be top of my list! Whatever you do in life it should be about having fun. Life is for living after all. Regardless of how many birthdays you’ve had.
Photo by Capturing the human heart. on Unsplash
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