I must admit, I never saw the movie The Bucket List, but I have seen Easy A a billion times and love that for their family movie night “the family member of the week gets to pick the movie.” He just so happens to pick The Bucket List.
Before having my first child I had a list of things that I wanted to do before he was born, I guess you could say that it was a small bucket list. One of those things was to hike Mt Olympus (here is Salt Lake City). It was so fun and fulfilling to get something done that I had always wanted to and my favorite part is crossing off that item from my list.
After that I thought, why not a father son bucket list; a list of things that my son and I will do together. The hard part for me is, when I make a list of things to do I always feel like I need to get them done today! I have a hard time with writing out what I want to do for a long period of time.
Clearly, buy looking at the things I want to do with him though I know that I can’t get them done today, tomorrow, this week, or in the next ten years. It is a work in process, but I think that is going to make it even more fun.
Our Bucket List
- Take a road trip to Astoria, Oregon while watching Goonies. Visit the Goonies house and Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach.
- Compete in a wing eating competition together to see who can eat the most. This can be attempted more than once.
- Teach him to be a gentleman: open doors for women, respect and love his mother, and that ladies are always first.
- Take him to University of Utah football games. I am not a huge sports fan, but when it comes to the Utes I love going to their games.
- If he decides to play a sport, I want to attend all his games and be his biggest cheerleader. I would even be willing to coach, but that could be very interesting.
- Watch him accept his high school diploma as an honor student.
- Watch him receive his PHD…okay maybe we start with his bachelors degree.
- Go to dinner with him the night before his wedding and talk about the birds and bees…is that too late to start that conversation? No but really make one on one time a priority.
- Go to New York together to see Jimmy Fallon, a Broadway show, shopping, attend a sporting event, walk through a museum, and eat at random places. I want him to be cultured and know that he can choose to love anything and I will be super supportive as long as he tries it all.
- Be there for the blessing of each of his children.
- Support him in any events that he decides to do through school. If that means I help with plays that he is in, being a booster for school sports, or getting him lessons for singing, sports or anything he wants to do. I just want him to know that I will do whatever I can to support his choices.
- Teach him that money doesn’t grow on trees. I don’t want to spoil him and want him to learn that you have to work for your money and the things you want. I think this will be harder for me and teach me more than him.
- Take him to places I loved as a kid: Hawaii, Disneyland, St George, Vegas, Moab, Arches, etc.
- Teach him about the importance of the LDS temples and visit as many as we can in our lifetime together.
Like I said, this is a work in progress, but I think that if I have them written out and visible I will be able to always work on these life goals. I challenge you to sit down tonight with your spouse and write down your own family bucket list. My family collaboration will be posted soon, can’t wait to hear how this goes!
