Falling into the bucket

Walking down the street, she kicked at the fall leaves. This usually sparked at least a tiny amount of joy. The smell of autumn, the crunch of the leaves, the change of the season after a hot, sticky summer. Even going back to school was usually at least a little exciting; it meant seeing friends every day and, of course, new school supplies. But this year just didn’t feel the same. Walking along with her mask pressed against her face, occasionally fogging up her glasses, she didn’t feel the same excitement. The weather was changing but school wasn’t going to be the same. She wasn’t going to see half of her friends because they would be in person on different days. And even those she would see, would be from a distance. No lunches together. No free periods together. No activities after school. No waiting together for the bus. It just wouldn’t be the same. What’s the point? Might as well keep hanging out through their online games – at least then they could talk and joke around live and in the moment. She just felt….blah.

She saw a bigger pile of leaves next to the sidewalk and stepped onto the grass for a better kick. She crunched on some leaves and kicked at the pile. The leaves went flying. Nothing. No momentary happiness. Ugh. She kicked again. Her red Converse hit something that moved under the leaves. It looked like a book. She picked it up. It was a small black notebook. Not spiral bound like they used for school, but bound along the side with a ribbon hanging out the bottom. It looked grown up. She hesitated. This could be someone’s diary or something else private. It wasn’t her business. But then it should be protected, not just left for someone else to take. What if a different person got a hold of it and didn’t respect the privacy of the owner? She picked it up and kept walking. She debated. What if the person’s name was on the inside cover? Should she look? What if the first page contained their deepest secret? Or their celebrity crush? Or just their grocery list? Not quite as private but still a potential loss there. Without the grocerty list, her mom always forgot that one thing that she needed the most.

What if it was a bucket list? OOOOOOOHhhhhhh. That could be interesting. She imagined that you could learn a lot about a person from their bucket list. Her teacher mentioned bucket lists one time in class last year so she’d googled ideas and there were some crazy ideas! Volunteering at an elephant rescue. Stomping grapes into wine with your feet (gross!). Swimming with dolphins. Jumping out of a plane. Running a marathon. Going to observe gorillas in their natural habitat. So many of them involved travel and/or money. She was not an experienced traveler so she found the suggestions that were really far away very intimidating. She’d never even been on a plane before! And she was saving her money for college so she didn’t have money to spare. That always seemed to limit her planning.

What if she WASN’T limited by money? What if she could do whatever this person might have listed in the book if they had created a bucket list?

She walked along holding the notebook. She did love the elephant idea. She had loved elephants ever since she’d written a research paper about them in junior high. That would be amazing. She would also love to go to the gorilla preserve. How would you even go about those things? Do you need a passport? Do you stay out in a hut somewhere? How do you make sure that the animals don’t feel threatened and attack you? Oh geez. She needed to get out of the details and back to the list. She’d love to travel with her mom. Her mom had traveled a lot for work and always talked about the things that she would have loved to do at each location but didn’t have time to do. She’d love to take her mom to some of those locations and do the things she’d missed. She’d love to take her brothers to a professional basketball game. They’d never been to one but both of them loved basketball. She’d take a road trip to visit each of her grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. She would visit art museums in Europe. She would go on a safari in Africa. Man, she was getting into this! She’d go from never having been anywhere to having been everywhere! She would love to go near an ocean and spend a few weeks just hanging out. She could bring some of her friends. It would be so great to hang out again! Like a junior high recess but on the beach for a couple of weeks! That would be so awesome.

She turned around at the end of the block and started to head back toward home. Since she was thinking about things to do that weren’t bound by money, then she could finally volunteer at the animal shelter….every day. She had done it a few times and just loved it. Cuddling with the little puppies and kitties. And showing some of the new dogs that had just come in that someone loved them and would be patient while they learned to trust. She loved breaking through those barriers and feeling that impact. It felt so good. She didn’t even mind cleaning out cages and putting away supplies. She just liked being there. Maybe she’d even buy a house that she could dedicate to the animals that just never seemed to get adopted. Her heart went out to them. They just wanted a home. Everyone deserved that, right? So maybe she’d do that.

She was so lost in thought about her bucket list that she didn’t notice the woman walking along the curb at first. These days, so many people would move off the sidewalk to avoid each other that she didn’t pay much attention. She always tried to make a point of making eye contact and giving at least a nod since people seemed so disconnected during this time so when she noticed the woman, she held her gaze for a few minutes to see if the woman would look up to catch the nod. The woman was very intently looking on the ground, moving some of the leaves around with her foot. Was this how she raked? The yard wasn’t big but it seemed worth investing in a rake. So strange. Then the young woman noticed that the older woman was looking in the leaves. The older woman looked up and noticed the younger one approaching so the younger nodded. The older woman was looking at the younger’s hand and her eyebrows raised as she noticed the notebook.

The older woman looked up at the younger’s face. It was hard to distinguish facial expressions when they both had masks on but the younger could easily figure out that the notebook belonged to the older and that the older was upset, concerned, not happy (or something!) that someone had her notebook!

“Is this yours? I’m so sorry. I picked it up but I didn’t open it. I swear!”

“You picked it up and have just been carrying it around?”

“Well, yes. I didn’t know what might be in it so I didn’t want to just leave it so I picked it up. But I didn’t want to read your secrets or diary so I’ve just been carrying it.”

The older woman’s eyes smiled. She looked at the younger woman for a minute. “Is that what you thought might be in there? My diary?”

“I thought that it might be odd that someone would just be walking around with their secret notebook but it could happen.” She laughed a little and handed the woman her notebook. “I’m sorry I touched it. I have sanitizer. But I’ve been at home with just my family.”

“That’s okay. I have gloves on. I’ll take care of it at home.” She paused. “It was actually my bucket list. I just started it recently and have come up with some good ideas. I wanted to find it so that I didn’t forget any of them.”

“No way! That was one of the things that I thought might be in there! It made me start thinking about what I might put on my own. I started dreaming that I could do whatever I wanted – that money was no object – so my list wouldn’t be so lame.”

The conversation continued for a little bit as they exchanged some of their bucket list ideas. It was fun to hear what someone else would put on their list. It was nice to connect with someone again after so much seclusion, even if it was a stranger. The older woman was particularly excited about the house for animals that didn’t get adopted and they brainstormed some cool ideas for it. They parted ways with smiles hidden under their masks, wishing each other luck with their lists. The young woman walked down the couple of doors to her house and glanced back as she turned the key. The older woman was still standing there watching and waved. The young woman waved back and went in the house.

She felt lighter after talking to the woman. It was nice to take a break and dream for a minute. It was nice to see another person and talk and laugh and get excited. It was exciting to plan even if these were things that she might not be able to do any time soon….or ever! Some of those things on her list were very expensive and may not ever be possible. But she could dream! It was nice to look forward instead of just worrying about the present.

For the first time in a long time, she looked forward. She fell asleep that night adding to her list. She wrote her ideas down on a piece of scrap paper. She would have to get a little black notebook like the other woman’s – that would be a nice place to keep the list.

The next afternoon as she was leaving for her walk, she saw an envelope on the floor by the door. She wondered where it came from. In this day of germaphobia, she wondered if she should touch it. She grabbed a tissue and picked it up and brought it to the kitchen. She used a wipe on it. The front said “To the lovely young lady with the red Converse” – was that referring to her? It had to be. No one else in her family had the same shoes. She opened the envelope. In it was a folded piece of paper. She opened it and what looked like a check fell out. The paper had a note which read:

It was a pleasure to meet you, young friend. I was proud to meet a young person with such positive hopes and dreams. I have been looking for a way to pay forward my success to the next generation. I don’t have any children or nieces or nephews so it was luck that I met you. Follow your dreams.

What? She looked at the check. It was for $2,000,000!! What?!?!??! This couldn’t be real. This doesn’t happen. THIS DOESN’T HAPPEN! She ran to her mom who she’d told about the meeting yesterday. She couldn’t believe it. She would be able to do some of the things on her bucket list now, but most especially the house for animals that needed a home. How amazing. Beyond amazing. What are the chances? There is good in this world. She would take this woman’s money and continue to pay it forward. She was happy to be a part of something so incredible. The story was just beginning.