“Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.” ~~Kobi Yamada
“When you have come to the edge of all the light you have and step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of the two will happen to you: Either you’ll find something solid to stand on or you’ll be taught how to fly.”~~Richard Bach
Most of us have goals and dreams that we want to accomplish in this lifetime. We’ve got a running list in our heads, perhaps on paper, of all these things we are going to do when we have the time. Oh, and also the money. At exactly the same time. We call it our Bucket List, and it goes something like this: hike the Appalachian Trail, create a blog, visit at least half of the National Parks, shop at Paris’ famed Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, start a cat sanctuary, go back to school, volunteer for a favorite cause, and other various aspirations. But, the thing I’ve discovered in my life is, very rarely do I have the time and money simultaneously. And if I keep putting off everything until I do, most likely what I want to do will not happen. According to the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of Bucket List is: a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying. The origin of bucket list is from the phrase “kick the bucket”: (to die). That’s a pretty sobering thought. We are all going to die. Today we are as young as we will ever be again. And perhaps as healthy. Maybe even as wealthy. So, why not go ahead and knock out a few of these items now? The hardest step in a new direction is usually the first. You can start small. Can’t make it to the AT quite yet? Hike your local state park. Don’t have an extra day to volunteer? Offer an hour or two a month. Take one class. Then a second. Save one cat. Then a second. Save, plan, whatever you need to do, but for godsakes, don’t put it off until. Because, as Jim Morrison sang, “No one here gets out alive.” And no one here knows when the bell will toll or when the bucket will be kicked. Go ahead and leap, even if it’s just a little leap. Leap.
Author’s Photo: Someone who gets the whole leaping thing. Leap Day 2016
Giving Voice to My Astonishment 