This week, the Chicks are going deep as we talk about … bucket lists! Okay, so it turns out none of us actually has a little piece of paper enumerating everything we hope to accomplish before we kick the proverbial bucket. But we are ready to share some of our lifetime must-do’s, as well as some of our already-dids. What about you, readers? What’s on your theoretical bucket list?

 Marla Cooper

My bucket list would definitely have a lot of travel on it. Seeing the Northern Lights is a no-brainer. That’s about as bucket-listy as a bucket list can get! I’d like to visit all 50 states — and I’m 72% of the way there! And after watching everyone on the news raving about how amazing the total solar eclipse was — it was overcast here so I didn’t even get a partial — I now have to add that to my list as well. (My next chance is 2024.) I’m tempted to pad my list with easy-to-accomplish items, kind of like how I add things to my to-do list that I’ve already done to make myself feel better about myself. That means I should come up with some sort of goal around lifetime chocolate consumption or add “Watch Elf at least five more times” to the list. The one thing that I won’t put on my list? Learn to whistle. I’ve tried several times already, so I know that one just ends in disappointment.

---

Kellye Garrett

I don’t have a bucket list. There, I’ve admitted it. However, this post has made me realize I must rectify this immediately.  I did some research to find ideas to steal and found this site: https://bucketlist.org/featured/. I’m happy to report that although I may not have accomplished a million things on my own list, I have, in fact, accomplished several things on other people’s, including:

• Visit New York City at Christmas time! (I live here but it still counts.)
• Learn how to play piano. (I can add “Quit piano” as well.)
• Witness an eclipse. (I still have the glasses. Mind you it was last month but still.)
• Do yoga. (Unfortunately…)
• Write a book and get it published. (Shameless plug: Hollywood Homicide is in stores now!)

---

Lisa Q. Mathews

I don’t actually have an official bucket list. It’s not that I haven’t considered one, but…I kinda hate the idea I have to do things before I’m not around anymore. I really hate thinking about that. I mean, if you check off every item on the list are you suddenly jettisoned from the planet?  For this reason, I even avoid bucket list-buddy movies. They always die in the end. I do have an “I’ve always wanted to do” list and I check that off on a regular basis. I just signed up for a mystery dinner in a mansion. Oh, and my personal want list does NOT include any ghostbusting tours, snake-wrangling, Top Gun missions or a ride on the rickety Cyclone at Coney Island. Not now, not ever!

---

Vickie Fee

I’m not organized enough to have a bucket list, but if I had one, there are some things I can say I’ve already checked off. 1) Had a novel published. This one took longer than I expected, but now I have three books out in the world. 2) Received fan mail. (I never would have been bold enough to put this one on the list, but it’s pretty cool. Cozy readers are the best!) 3) Fly an airplane. For my birthday one year, my husband arranged a flying lesson. I spent 45 minutes in the air in a four-seater plane with my hands on the controls as the pilot told me what to do. He gave me an assist when we started losing altitude a bit too quickly. What a rush! My husband could have ridden in the plane with us, but for some reason decided to wait on the ground.

---

Ellen Byron

Number one on my bucket list is ALWAYS number one, and has been since I was fourteen:
1 – Visit the Bronte Parsonage and walk the moors that Emily, Charlotte, and Anne once walked.
2. Finally get to Paris.
3. Make a million dollars so I can go everywhere else.
4. Live 3 months a year in New Orleans or environs, 3 months a year in New York or environs, 3 months a year in Studio City, and 3 months a year where my husband feels like living.
5. Go en pointe at least once.

Someday I’ll elaborate on this list because to be honest, right now I’m kind of pulling it out of my arse. But really, the one immutable  is #1. If I was told I only had a week to live, I’d get on a plane the next day and go immediately to the Bronte moors. I hope that’s not what it takes to get me there. But it is my lifelong dream.

---

Okay, readers, now it’s your turn. We’ve shared ours; now you share yours!

(If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to Chicks on the Case and you’ll never miss a post. Just click the button on the top right side of this page and let the fun begin!)