My Bucket List Features Mr. T, Penguins and 13 Other Things I Need To Do Before I Die – #GenworthUSA

Photo Credit: Fuzzcat via Flickr

This  post was brought to you by Genworth Insurance as part of an online campaign run by the life-giving women over at Brandfluential. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

I’ve always talked about it but never actually did it. No, not bank robbing or taking over the world. I’ll leave that for the likes of Lex Luthor and company.

No, I’m talking about a bucket list. You know, a list of things you want to accomplish before you die or… Kick the bucket. While lists can have dozens or hundreds of items on them, I didn’t want this post to go on forever. So for now you’ll just have to be satisfied with an abbreviated version of my bucket list. Consider these the high points if you will. In other words, here come 15 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

1. Pet a Penguin – I’ve always loved these little guys. I mean is there a cuter animal on the planet? I came within a foot or two of one at a SeaWorld session of Affiliate Summit conference a few years ago, but wasn’t allowed to touch the little guy.

2. Run a 5K – I hate running. I loathe it. Despise it. Even still, I’d like to be in good enough shape to successfully run a 5K. I’d even want to do some of those fun ones where you dress up like superheroes or get chased by zombies!

3. Visit the Grand Canyon – I’ve flown over it many times, but never visited from the ground floor. I’d love to take Allie and the kids to see this natural majestic wonder.

4. Interview Mr. T – He’s this generation’s most fascinating character. I could watch Mr. T read pages of the dictionary and be entertained for hours. Plus, he knows how to treat his mother right! What I wouldn’t give for even 15 minutes of his time for an in-person interview.

5. Write a Novel – I actually have co-written one book in my life, but it was just a collection of interviews with popular comic book writers. I want to sit down and finally write some fiction. I have a lot of stories brewing in my head that I’d love to let loose one of these days.

6. Learn to Play the Guitar – In college I taught myself how to play guitar. I can handle a number of basic chords and can follow some tabs, but I haven’t touched it in years. I keep telling myself I want to take some lessons, but just never got around to it.

7. Eat Sushi in Japan – I had an opportunity to visit Japan for work once years ago but didn’t take advantage. Now I’d so love to visit, see the sites, embrace the culture and chow down on some real, traditional sushi. (I’m guessing that wouldn’t include a Godzilla Roll.)

8. Build a House – Okay, so that’s just a tad bit ambitious. But I am the most unhandy person I know. I’d love to learn how to do basic home repairs, fix drywall, build an addition on, etc. But how incredible would it feel to actually live in a beautiful home you built yourself?

9. Go Hang-gliding – I’m way too much of a wuss to ever do this one, but I’d much rather go hang-gliding than skydiving. I’d like to soar in the sky like an eagle, rather than plummet to the Earth like a bowling bowl.

10. See the Pyramids – These things are pretty amazing considering they didn’t even have the Internet when they were built.

11. Go to the Top of the Empire State Building – Yes, I’m 41 years old and lived in New York my entire life. I now work a few blocks from the Empire State Building, and yet, I still haven’t been to the top. This is probably the first one that’ll be crossed off this Bucket List I imagine.

12. Walk the Great Wall of China – Justin Bieber may’ve recently tainted this monument with his obnoxiousness, but even so, this is another breathtaking monument I would just love to see first hand.

13. Break 200 in Bowling – The highest score I ever got in bowling was a super painful 199. I’d love to one day break that 200 mark.

14. Get Hugged by Heather Locklear – It’s no secret I’ve always had a huge crush on Heather Locklear. While other guys would kill for eye contact from Megan Fox or Scarlett Johansson these days, I’ll take a nice big hug from Ms. Locklear any day.

15. Go Behind the Scenes of a Muppet Movie – Muppets rule. Plain and simple. And the entire Henson company is just a bunch of crazy creative folks. It’d be a double rainbow connection if I could ever hang with Kermit, Fozzie and the gang on set of one of their latest movies.

One thing I don’t need to put on my bucket list is getting life insurance. As I get older, I become more and more aware of just how fragile life truly is. Things can change in an instant and the last thing I’d want in the entire world is to have something tragic happen to me, leaving Allie and the kids stuck picking up the financial pieces.

No one’s ever prepared for death. You just can’t be. But the one thing you can prepare for is your family’s financial security. Life is going to be incredibly tough enough for my family if I were out of the picture; the one thing I can at least be sure of is that they won’t have to worry about money right away.

Sure I hope my life insurance policy never ever gets used, but it gives me some piece of mind knowing that should something ever happen, Allie and the boys won’t have to completely change up their lives simply because they can’t afford to pay the bills. It can be tough even having that initial conversation about life insurance with your partner. It’s certainly not a comfortable topic anyone wants to talk about. But it is one everyone needs to talk about at some point.

If you’re interested in setting up your own policy or even just getting some more information, I encourage you to check out companies like Genworth. They can help you narrow down exactly how much coverage you’ll need, as well as explain exactly what life insurance is and why it’s so critical for couples and parents to buy.

Give it some thought and then have that initial talk with your partner. If you just keep putting it off until later, well, later may eventually be too late.

What’s on your Bucket List?