My “Unwritten” Bucket List: 18 Things To Do

Life is short and I intend to live it to the fullest…

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According to Google, “bucket list” is a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or to accomplish during their lifetime,

Last August 05, 2014, two months after I started blogging, I came across a very detailed post about 101 Things To Do Before You Die. And it inspired me to write my own bucket list.

In 1996, when I reached my 30s, I started to enumerate, in my mind, the things that I want to do before I die. The term bucket list was unknown to me then…it was simply my TTD (Things To Do) List.

1. To see my brother graduate from Law School. He graduated from Far Eastern University last 2005.

Taken April 3, 2004 at Roxas Boulevard Baywalk after the Graduation Ceremony held in PI

2. I want to have a baby at 35 (I was single that time…with no prospective boyfriend). I had my daughter, Shemaella Daniz or simply Daniz, when I was 40 years old. She’s a gift from god…the child of our hearts.

Taken May 14, 2006. She was 7 months old.

3. If I will be an old maid, I want to be a jolly old maid not an irritable, ill-tempered one.  Already superseded, check numbers 11 and 12.

4. To own a 3-door Toyota Rav4. It was a whim of a single, not getting any yonuger, lady…not applicable anymore.

5. To travel to Japan again on a business trip (the first time was in 1992 for my first job in Associated Wire Corporation of the Philiipines, from January to December). I was able to go back in 1997 and stayed there for 2 weeks, during my stint in Casio Philippines. Then just this March 2015 with S’Next Philippines, Inc.

Picture courtesy of Mr. Ramel Mendoza (first one from the right). Taken last March 25, 2015  with S'Next Japan Family under the Cherry Blossoms Tree after our Welcome Dinner.

6. To have a house of my own, even a small one. (If I will be single for life, I don’t want to be a burden to my younger siblings when I get old). I acquired this house in Pueblocillo, Dasmarinas Cavite but it was renovated when we got married…and became our home.

7. To write a book (no clear idea what kind, but I loved to read pocket books…since I was 13). Still doable, will be part of My Bucket List.

8. To plant a tree (I have read it somewhere that one of the legacy that you can leave the next generation are grown trees).

9. To put up a small business, karinderya or a small restaurant, for my father Pacio, and named it after him. Tay Pacio passed away in 2001.

10. For my brother to pass the Bar Examination and become a full-pledge lawyer. Yes.

11. I do not want to get married for the sake of it…I want to be happy being married, waking up every morning beside him and growing old with him. We celebrated our 16th Civil Wedding Anniversary last September 08, 2015.

12. I am going to marry someone, if and only if, he has the 2Ms: 1. Mamahalin ako (he will love me) 2. sasamahan akong Magsimba (he will go to church with me).

13. To buy the house that we lived in for most of our lives from my Lola and give it to my parents. Tay Pacio passed away January 2001 and Nanay Nor last July 2014…and I was not able to buy it for them. I had the chance in 1992, when I got back from my one-year training in Japan and Lola was still alive and willing to sell the house to me…but “delicadeza” won over what I want.

14. To provide for my parents for them to have a better life. I was not able to support them financially…there were priorities and they understood.

15. For my other brother to earn a college degree. Yes

16. For my youngest brother to find a job in a reputable company. It is already in his hands…

17. To earn a Master’s Degree. I earned a degree in Master of Management.

18. To study at the University of the Philippines (my dream ever since I graduated from high school but I was no able to take the entrance test because I came to Manila after my graduation…and it was too late). I studied at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Clark Campus from 2011 ~2013 and graduated last April 27, 2013, with a degree in Master of Management.

Graduation Ceremony last April 27, 2013 at Grand Palazzo Royale, Angeles City, Pampanga

My parents are gone, and I would like to think, though I was not able to realize those list intended for them, that I was able to make them proud. And as the eldest, I was able to live up to my father’s expectation to be a good role model to my brothers and sister. One thing is certain though, the smile on my father’s when I got married in December 1999, was one of the fondest memories that I will treasure. It was a smile of genuine happiness intended for me, her eldest daughter, whom he fondly called “Nene”.

Writing this list bring back memories of the olden days...of dreams fulfilled and those that were not…of the realization that we cannot turn back the hands of the time. The only thing that we can do in this present time is to move forward, but never forgetting the lessons of the past.

Footnote:

• I already completed "The 101 Things To Do Before I Die" please feel free to read it and leave your comment. Or better yet, create your own bucket list.