“I’ve done it all. My to do list is complete, my novel is written, my Rock Opera is completed, recorded, and ready to hit the world by storm. Three thousand items, finished before I turned sixty. My greatest accomplishment!”
“After me, of course?” Angela inquired.
“After you, of course,” I quickly corrected. “You were on the list, remember?”
“And the kids?”
“And the kids. They were on the list.”
“And the grandkids?”
“All three of them. And counting.”
“On the list?”
“No,” I admitted. “I didn’t think of them when I was making it.”
“But you added stuff all the time. If you had added them, we wouldn’t have had to get on the roller coaster naked. The seats were cold!”
“I apologize for that.”
“And the great grandkids?”
“OK. There aren’t any yet. Give it twenty years.”
“And Christmas shopping?”
“That’s always on the list.”
“And the dogs?”
“Dogs do not rank ahead of completing the list. But they were on the list.”
“Dogs were on the list, but not your grandchildren?”
“I started it when I was a kid. I wanted a dog.”
“So, your fourth greatest accomplishment.”
I held up the glass of properly aged wine in a toast “My fourth greatest accomplishment!” Together they sipped, and this time, the experience was much more pleasant. “Not the finest, but good nonetheless. And the purple stains are nearly faded from my feet as well.” He reconsidered his toast, and continued. “And of course, to my greatest accomplishment, my second greatest accomplishment and my third greatest accomplishment as well!” They took another sip.
“What will you do with your life now?” Angela asked, “It seems you’ve done everything. What else can there be?”
“There are my five star items. Maybe even some of the four star items. OK, even three and two. But don’t make me do any one star. Once was enough. We can revisit the others again. I don’t think we spent enough time in Helena, for example, and we never actually got to Banff. It wasn’t on my list. We can start a new one.”
“We don’t need to make a list. We can just do, and see what life has to offer.”
“That’s been the story of my life. Impulsive. Ready to take on whatever life offers us. Being adventurous. Within reason, of course.”
“Of course.”
“You notice there were no extreme activities on my list? No parachuting, no bungee jumping. No bear wrestling. No being shot out of a cannon”
“I distinctly remember you being shot out of a cannon on your 1976 tour. Night after night.”
“Oh, that’s right. But it was a small cannon, and not real at that. There were wires.”
”And all this time I thought it was real. Faker.”
“You do what you gotta do.”
“You do what you gotta do,” Angela agreed.
“What I gotta do is get some real food. How about we hit that new place in town?”
“Is it on your list?”
“There is no list. I’m done. One thing I’m sure of, I’ll never hit the road again. Leave it to the younger generation. I’m retired. Story of my life.”