Greetings!: The Leaking Bucket

Saturday, December 7, 2019

The Leaking Bucket

Do you have a bucket list - a list of things that you have not done yet but want to do before dying? It seems now to be the fashionable thing to do, making this list as one grows older. Well I never made one and now my physical problems would prevent me from doing most of the things I might want to put on such a.

So instead you might call my list a "leaking bucket" list of things that now are really impossible to do. But at least I can dream about doing them.

My list would include long trips to Alaska, Switzerland and Germany - all beautiful destinations. I might want to take them with a Christian organization to enjoy both the scenery and the fellowship. And to that list I would add a train trip across Canada and the Rocky Mountains.

Then there would be return trips to many cities we have visited over the years. San Diego and its zoo and Wild Animal Park would be high on the list. We loved the time we spent there at the Park. It was like taking an actual safari in Africa and was much better than the wild animal safari at Disney.

I would love to return to Boston to again see and hear the Boston Pops, especially on the Fourth of July. We enjoyed them when we attended a national math convention there and it was a great experience.

Of course I would also like to return to Orlando, especially to see Epcot. I never tired of visiting the parks there but my favorite is Epcot. It's like taking a trip around the world.

I would also like to return to Ocean City, Maryland, and our favorite hotel there, just to watch the ocean. We used to visit there a few times each year until physical challenges caught up with us.

I have great memories of riding the Staten Island ferry as a teenager while visiting my aunt and uncle. That, too, is something I'd like to do once again although I imagine it would be much different now than the good memories I have. Time really changes things.

I've never attended a professional football game and have never been to Citizens Bank Park for a baseball game. But I'm not sure that they are very high on my list anymore. However I've always thought it would be fun to attend a Penn State football game at Wisconsin or Nebraska. In fact I would enjoy going to see any Penn State football game once again and maybe even a game at Notre Dame could be fun.

I'd love to once again visit the many homes that I lived in growing up - Selinsgove, two in New Cumberland, Wilmington, Delaware, Elizabethtown (house is no longer there however), Lancaster, Tallahassee, the one that I grew up in in Lititz and the three that we lived in after being married - Plum Creek, Silver Springs and Millersville. It would be interesting to see how my memories match up with what is there now.

And along the same line It would be fun to visit the old church in Sunbury where Dianne and I met, attended and were married. Great memories, but we'd probably be disappointed.

Oh yes, I always wanted to go for a ride in a hot air balloon. But the older I get, the more I fear heights. So I'll just let that drip out of my leaking bucket.

Well that's enough for now. Good memories and exciting thoughts. But let me urge you, as you grow older, do those things that you've always wanted to do. Old age and physical problems come faster than you think and suddenly a bucket list can become a leaking bucket list.

(1) Often my soul has been lifted above

Lost in the ocean of God's mighty love

Higher and higher, but once still I say

I'm going higher someday

I'm going higher, yes higher someday

I'm going higher, yes higher to stay

Over the mountain, beyond the blue sky

Going where none ever sicken or die

Loved ones will meet in that sweet by and by

I'm going higher someday

(2) Soon will the Savior appear, bless His name

And in a moment, we all will be changed