Last week we received the movie "The Bucket List" from Netflix. The kids were a little disappointed. They are always in hopes of a kid or teen oriented movie. But, there was nothing else for them to do (yeah, right!), so they sat down and watched it with me. It was a pretty good movie.
It must have touched something inside of my youngest (he is 12, soon to be 13 in a few weeks). He watched the movie two more times on his own! It gave him serious pause for thought. A few nights later, he came to me (when I was on the phone, of course) with his own bucket list. I was surprised at how much thought he had put into it. I told him we would keep it and he could update it every year, crossing off things he had accomplished and adding more things he wanted to do.
I thought I'd share it (and a few of my comments and explanations) with all of you!
THE BUCKET LIST
Do til I Die (means before he dies)
1. Help a good friend for good.
2. Skydiving (this was in the movie)
3. Draw a good Picture
4. Win the lottery (me too!)
5. Go out with a grin and a kiss!
6. Get married and have kids
7. Be a good trumpet player
8. Shoot a gun at plates (I think he means skeet shooting)
9. Drive in a Hummer or a F 150 (his favorite vehicles)
10. Walk on the wall of China (me too! especially after seeing pics of Debbie & Kenny's visit there!)
11. Have very good friends. (He has already checked this off)
12. Be at least 15 yrs old or older before dying. (15 seems really old to a 12 yr old! What does that make me?)
13. Sing a very good song to a lover. (I TOLD my husband that the girl friend thing was starting!)
14. Never forget Nana or Papa, even at 75 yrs old.
15. Pass all of my schools very good. (I think he means classes or grades)
16. Kiss the hottest girl I see in school. (See comment on #13!!!!)
17. Kiss the hottest girl out of school. (I think this was also a goal in the movie, but anyway, see comment on #13!!!!!)
18. Never stop loving monkeys. (He collects stuffed monkeys)
19. Laugh until I (we) cry!
20. Be the best skateboarder on my block.
21. Look at a very good place (I think this is also in the movie - to view something magnificent.)
22. Never drink at all.
23. Never smoke.
24. Try to be a math teacher.
25. Never forget best friends forever (then names all friends)
26. Never forget Ivy, Bitzy, Teddy, Lilly, etc. (names all of our pets).
Last: Kick the Bucket!!!
I hope that we are giving him all the tools and all the support that he needs to reach and accomplish all of his goals throughout his life! Nana
“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” ~Elizabeth Stone
Our youngest, Damien, turned 13! Wow, how time flies! Seems like yesterday he was crawling around in diapers. They grow up so fast!
Since his birthday is in October and relatively near Halloween, he usually has a Halloween cake. This year it was a black cat! Everyone wanted the candy corn around the edge.
Blowing out 13 candles takes effort!
He was excited about his presents! Big brother, in the background, can't wait until his birthday in December!
Collins Hill High School had their annual Homecoming this week. The football game was Friday night and Homecoming Dance was Saturday night. Here is Becca and her date, Hunter.
This was Becca's 3rd year for Homecoming. She was looking forward to a good time dancing! Hunter just moved here from Ohio. They both had a great time!
This was Tony's first Homecoming Dance. He invited his friend, Tatiana. It was also her first dance. They are both Freshmen. They have been friends since 4th grade.
They had a great time too! They said the dance was a lot of fun. I had a wonderful time chauffeuring. Damien accompanied me for the drive. He was checking out just what you did when you went to Homecoming, in anticipation for his first one in a couple of years!
The boys have new eye wear this year! They had to switch. Damien went from reading glasses to full time wear. He actually has bifocals to help him both read and see in the distance. The glasses darken to sunglasses outside, which he thinks is cool, but he is having to adjust to wearing them all the time!
Tony went from wearing glasses all the time to just reading glasses. He has to adjust to remembering to take them off and on and to not leave them on a desk or table somewhere in a classroom!! Their motto is "On the face or in the case!"
Becca got her first "real" job this summer - cashier at Kroger. Here she is after a LONG couple of days! School started Monday and she went straight to work afterwards. She had Tues. off from work, but on Wednesday she had braces put on her top teeth, then headed to her other job - babysitting at the church. She gets up at 5AM, the bus comes a little after 6AM and school starts at 7AM!!! Too early for me! School is out at 2PM and then it's off to work until 8PM several nights. Luckily, it's not every school night! This is what she looks like coming off a long shift! They wanted her to stay until 1AM!!! Crazy!
Here are the new braces. Might be hard to see, but they are Hot Pink. Just on the top for now. Her teeth are straight, but she had a baby tooth that didn't come out and the impacted tooth under it is pushing toward her front teeth and could damage them if it is not corrected. All that has caused a slight overbite and her left side bite to be off a tiny bit. She will get an expander in the roof of her mouth next month, then bottom braces, later, to correct the bite. If she is lucky, she will only have to wear them for a year and a half. If the baby tooth doesn't loosen up, it will have to be pulled and then possibly a tiny surgery to move the adult tooth in the correct position to "come on down"!!
Tony took the Coming of Age class at church this year. It teaches him about all religions and how to get along with others. He has a mentor (Chris, shown with him at the COA dinner). They did service projects together - Atlanta Food Bank - and Tony hung out with Chris, who plays in the band at church.
Tony is reading a statement about what he learned and got from his COA class. Each child got a chance to stand up and speak to the group. They talked about their experiences. Tony got to do an overnight trip where he spend the night in a cave and had a 4 hour spelunking adventure through the caves. He also got to do an overnight ropes course where he walked across ropes and did a 75 foot zip line jump!
There was a celebration at church for all COA graduates. They had to do community service hours, church service hours, plus several retreats. Participants were allowed to join the church and sign the church book if they wished after completing the course.
