More drops in the bucket

A bonus word for you this week: A bucket is not just a pail but also used to be the beam from which one would hang a pig for slaughter. As the pig was hoisted up, it would thrash and kick, and from there we got the phrase “kick the bucket,” meaning to die. A morbid way to start this week, I grant you.

Justin Zackham, a screenwriter, is given credit for the term “bucket list,” meaning things you’d like to do before kicking said bucket. He started with “Things to Do Before I Kick the Bucket” and then decided that was too long. In 2007, the movie “The Bucket List” made the term part of the popular vernacular. 

We all have things we’d like to do and accomplish before that bucket appears in front of our foot. The later in life we get, the more important those items might be. Recently, I got the chance to check two items off my list.

In March, I got an email from the Minnesota State High School League, gauging my interest in announcing for the state softball tournament in June. Um, yes, please! I love my job as Voice of the Panthers and have yearned for the opportunity to take that job to another level. I’ve been announcing section softball for a few years, but this was the big stage!

I found out that NRHEG AD Dan Stork had given them my name while our girls played at the basketball state tournament, and I’ll be forever grateful for that name drop. The experience was fantastic! All the people with whom I got a chance to interact were friendly and helpful. Coaches, fans, and players were happy and pleasant. I even got a chance to announce the longest game I’ve ever been part of, a 14-inning marathon that ended 2-1. 

I’ll admit that, for the first time in a long time in front of a microphone, I was nervous. What if I messed up? A breakdown in the sound system led to a delay just as I was starting opening announcements. The powers-that-be finally decided to just start the games. The sound system worked just in time for the first batter, and my nerves were gone.

Hopefully, I’ll get a chance for more state tournaments in the future. But even if I don’t, I’ll be able to say I was part of one.

I have loved “Weird Al” Yankovic since I was a young child. I remember he played the Brown County Fair in New Ulm back in the early 80s. I couldn’t hear much from the barns, but I started to buy some of his albums and have loved his work ever since. 

He’s come to Minnesota on many tours since that time, and I’ve always had an excuse to not go. When I saw he was playing the Treasure Island Amphitheater this summer, I decided that neither of us was getting any younger, and I needed to see him at least once. 

Michelle and I went and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Even his opening act of Puddles Pity Party was entertaining. And the main event was a great mix of his greatest hits and some B-side classics. I felt like a young child again, singing along with most of the songs. And when he came out in Jedi robes for the encore and sang two of his Star Wars parodies, it was the perfect way to end.

This is where I am in life. I’m in my 50s. If there is something I really, really want to do, I need to get to it. I hope I have a few decades left, but one never knows. With the kids out of the house, Michelle and I are much more likely to say, “Let’s go!”

Some things might be out of reach. My love of baseball is well known, and I would be thrilled if I got to see all 30 Major League Baseball teams play in their home stadium. So far, my number is six (eight if you count three different Twins stadiums). Plus, I’d like to go to Spring Training at least once. 

To accomplish all that, I would probably have to hit multiple stadiums on a trip. We did that when we visited Missouri back in 2016, seeing both the Cardinals and Royals play. And this is where the biggest problem with bucket list items arrives: money.

Baseball games are expensive. Traveling is expensive. I know I said we just need to do things, but there is also a limit. That’s why putting together a bucket list is not easy. You want it to be attainable.

Maybe throwing out the first pitch at a Twins game? Hmm…

Another item is that I’d like to retire with plenty of life left to sit back and enjoy not having the hustle and bustle of my job. I like teaching, but my summers really remind me of how many other things I like to do as well. This is not a bucket list item that I fully control. I’m planning for my retirement, but I’ll need to be able to step back from work without worrying a ton about money.

Watching my kids get jobs and maybe get married and have kids is an important item. I don’t control any part of that. I would like to be Grandpa at some point, but I want my kids to be ready to have children, no pressure from this guy. Jayna did get her first teaching job, so check that one off the list!

I hope you have things on your bucket list that you are striving for and can achieve! You’re never too young to experience great things and never too old to try for something you’d like!

Word of the Week: This week’s word is leal, which means honest and true, as in, “His leal thoughts propelled him to try something he’d always wanted to do.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!