Jack and I lead contented lives. We run a bookstore, rescue cats, live amiably with occasional passionate flairs, and own our house. We don’t have to cook if we don’t want to because we have a cafe in the bookstore; when we want something to read, we amble around looking for it. I have enough money to buy most of the yarn I want and all of the yarn I need, and Jack has a little red sports car.
Yeah, we’re shallow sometimes. :]
The bucket list thing has for the most part passed us by. Jack said once he wished he could pair his black socks correctly before he left this life, and I aspire to get through a whole tube of chapstick. Other than that, go by mad world.
But my friend Cami is a go-getter and a champion back-of-the-pack marathoner, and she is in Chile with her husband. They suggested we come for a visit. Neither Jack nor I have been to the continent of South America, and I admit we used the words “bucket list” to discuss the trip. As in, “It wasn’t on our bucket list, but it seems like a nice opportunity.”
That started one of those in-the-car conversations while driving to Maryland this week. (We went to visit our friend Melissa’s bookstore The Parkville Bookworm, along with her staff cats Stan Lee and Spencer. Eight hours is a long time to listen to NPR talk shows.)
On the drive Jack and I compared bucket list items, big and small. Some of these we probably can’t get, and some we can’t get without help, but hey, it pays to dream. So here it is……
THE JACK AND WENDY BUCKET LIST
Independence for Scotland (Jack and me both)
Find a four leaf clover (I’ve never found one in my whole entire life, except once inside a book, dried and pressed.)
Visit Fiji (Neither of us have been there, and we don’t know anything about it. We just like the name, I guess.)
Tell stories at the Iranian International Storytelling Festival (It’s held every February, this was their 18th year, and they don’t invite a lot of Westerners. But someday….)
Own a Morgan sports car again (I rolled my eyes at this, and Jack informed me that every guy is allowed a secret fantasy.)
Have the bookstore completely organized in a manner that makes sense (Jack says this has to be mine alone as he won’t put something on this list that can’t happen. I pointed out the Morgan thing and he just smiled. Should I be worried?)
Wendy Welch: Books, Yarn, Cats, Opioids 
Wendy, would your bookstore be as charming and inviting a place if it were “completely organized in a manner that makes sense”?? I’ve only been there once, and I can’t think of a hair that needs to be changed. “DON’T FIX WHAT AIN’T BROKE”, eh? 🙂
Jack approves this comment. :]
Yeah, um, Jack’s fantasy isn’t so secret anymore. I enjoyed having you guys, and I think the cats did, too. Spencer was having fun laying on your books. 😉
I applaud the “matched socks” goal. Having gone to the kind of high school that spawns senators, prize-winning authors and such, I find the alumni newsletter a daunting read, and so I am waiting for the day when my laundry all comes out the same size and colors that it went in and I can announce this achievement to my classmates. It’s more than “40 years on,” and it hasn’t happened yet…
We all have dreams…. :]
“Makes sense” is all relative anyway, you’re happy, the cats are happy, and organized ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. As long as you can find a book, a tea bag, and the cat treats you’re good.
True ’nuff
If it’s supposed to happen, it will. (And is any bookstore ever really organized??)
Good point!
Morgan is totally understandable. I used to drive a 1964 4/4. Love at first sight. If you ever see a red one with a special hard top, let me know.
Don Ramsey All Books Considered, Takoma Park MD
P S Sock problem goes away if you only buy all identical socks.
I told Jack I’d buy him a dozen pair of identical black socks for Christmas, because he wasn’t getting a Morgan.