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“We live, we die, and the wheels on the bus go round and round," Edward Cole (played by Jack Nicholson) in the 2007 movie Bucket List.
You might have seen the movie. Two terminally ill guys of a certain age, billionaire Edward Cole (Nicholson) and mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman), ditch their cancer ward and embark on an epic, round-the-world journey with a list of things to do before they die. While the movie was so-so, the list was impressive:
- Witness something truly majestic
- Help a complete stranger
- Laugh until I cry
- Drive a Shelby Mustang
- Kiss the most beautiful girl in the world
- Get a tattoo
- Skydive
- Visit Stonehenge
- Drive a motorcycle on the Great Wall of China
- Go on a safari
- Visit the Taj Mahal
- Sit on the great Egyptian pyramids
- Find the joy in your life
Many baby boomers are writing bucket lists of their own and not waiting until they are terminally ill to scratch items off. A bucket list (as in “kicked the bucket”) is an inventory of desired experiences in life that an individual did not get around to completing because he or she did not have the time, money, or initiative. By middle age, however, such a list looms large in the minds of many, as the recognition that one will run out of time at some point in the future becomes more real. Boomers are now heavily investing in bucket lists, sometimes literally so, with many more inventories of must-do-before-I-die experiences to be taken in the years ahead.
The world is a very big place with an incredible array of things to see and do, but most of us live relatively narrow lives for most of our lives. A bucket list is a rare opportunity to step out of our little box and, as they say, better late than never.
Reaching a certain age, usually 60 or 65, is a common trigger to create a bucket list. Having some kind of health scare is another, and the death of a parent or friend could be yet one more reason to take stock of one’s own life. Going to Europe or taking a cruise around the Caribbean might have been something boomers’ parents did to fulfill a lifelong dream, but a 21st-century bucket list is far more diverse and active. Some experiences have become iconic or even clichéd (swim with the dolphins, ride a Harley down Route 66, or, as Cole and Chambers did, go on an African safari) while some are truly unique. Expect this existential free-for-all to continue for the next couple of decades as boomers pursue once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
