Dear Editor,
A new year brings resolutions – things we want to do in the next year of our life. Old age brings bucket lists – things we want to do in the remaining years of our life.
Whether annual or final, these aspirational statements often include a personal goal to improve ourselves, whether in the coming year or in our remaining years.
Those of us preparing bucket lists should consider celebrating the people who have played a significant role in our life. In our later years, when our lives are moving at a slower pace, we have the opportunity, and can take the time, to reflect on our lives and the people we have encountered along the way.
This bucket list item is a promise to reach out to and reconnect with old and existing friends. We will tell them how they have influenced our life, and thank them for being a part of it. This exchange may include an expression of affection, or can have the effect of achieving closure.
Who we include in this recognition exercise can be lovers, friends, teachers, teammates, family, and coworkers – past and present.
What we say to each person will be different. Some will get or give advice, some will lament what could have been, and others will express joy and gratitude. Each encounter will be an exploration as well as a celebration.
How we communicate with these individuals does not matter. It can be in person, by telephone, or even by email.
What does matter is that we remember these people while they are alive, so that they can appreciate our words and benefit from them. As we express ourselves in a way that we never have before, we are telling others in our life what they need to know in theirs. We are celebrating our connections in the moment, not mourning their ending in a eulogy.
This bucket list item will help us put our own life in order, as we provide meaning to others. It is an opportunity to reevaluate our past, to review where we have been, and to reveal where we want to go. As we look at our past – and the people who helped define it – we will be enhancing our future.
The road does not go on forever. However, we can make the rest of our journey on that road filled with possibility.
Sincerely,
Larry Kraft
North Springfield, Vt.
Kraft’s play “Waiting For A Eulogy” was presented last summer as a staged reading by the Springfield Community Players.