In the end, I made a half-assed attempt to complete it before my thirty-eighth birthday. I just wanted to shut Paula's folks up and start my life over.
The list was pretty simple:
1) Family
Check. Hazel's adoption gave me family of sorts and undeniable company.
2) Travel including but not limited to:
- Paris
- Versailles
- London
- Edinburgh
- Dublin
- Prague
- Rome
- Moscow
- Athens
- Sparta
3) Take a romantic hot air balloon ride, complete with champagne
4) Read poetry in bed with someone special
5) Become vegan for one week
6) Marry my best friend
7) Go to (and stay awake for) a poetry slam
Any good bucket list is difficult to accomplish or is at least lengthy. This list was more about being expensive, and in this economy no one has money to throw away on a bucket list, than it was about being either difficult or lengthy.
Changing location has never been a problem; I hate to travel. I like my own bed, pillow, and sheets, going across town or across the country is no problem as long as I keep the comforts of home. This is nothing compared to the fear at the mere idea of being airborne in a beer can for several hours when I have absolutely no control makes me squeamish.
I pulled up a spreadsheet and looked at my savings, retirement, and anything of value I could liquidate and figured I could be gone for about three days to Europe. It wouldn't tick most of the travel boxes, but it would be a stab at seeing the world.
I closed the computer and decided it didn't matter whether or not I accomplished any of the items on the list. It was Paula's dream and without her, it didn't matter.
the xxx played, my grandfather's ring tone. I answered, "Hey, Grandpa."
"That's Con," he said. "Grandpa makes me feel old." It wasn't like my grandfather, Conrad XXX was old, he just wasn't as young as he wanted to be. In his heart, he was still about forty, the rest of him was around eighty-five.
"Ok, Con," I said. "What can I do you?"
"I have another shot at the one who got away, and I want to make sure I catch her this time," he said. "My sixtieth-fifth class reunion is coming up this summer and I want to see who's still alive."
The one who got away was Eldina Strange. When they were in high school, she'd been the prom queen and the girl all the boys wanted to take home to mother. My grandfather's family was from the wrong side of the tracks so he never could have been a contender for her heart if he wanted to.
So go, old man. "What's stopping you?" I asked.
"I hate to fly, take buses, and can't drive that far alone anymore."
Grandpa lived in San Diego, the reunion would be near-ish me in xxx,xx. "Since you're footloose these days, I figure we could hit the road together for a while. Like those old Hope and Crosby movies we watched on the tv when you were a little boy."
Whenever my grandfather had to babysit me and my sisters, it was always a Bob Hope movie marathon. I blame those movies for my fascination for women who wear sarongs.
"You fly out and we'll take Betsy on the road." He took a deep breath and said, "This could be the last time."
Guilt. The secret for keeping a family together.
"If I do this," I said. I cleared my throat and started again, "If I do this, Hazel is coming."
"There won't be enough room for your honey and she might cramp my style."
"Hazel is a dog."
"You shouldn't say things like that. It has a way of getting back to them."
It was better to agree with him than try to explain about the dog. And maybe, just maybe a road trip with Grandpa would be a good thing. I'd look on an atlas to see if any of these cities were in the US and I could see them with Grandpa and kill of the stupid bucket list.
What?
I've only been considering it for ten years.
It might just be time.
~~ I know it isn't much, but I'm trying here people.
Word count: 753
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