This Is The Upside Down Bucket List

Never leave a stone unturned
Always follow your heart
Even if it ends up a little more broken
They were some of the last words she said to me
Until the very end
She spoke with a full heart
Her name was Lizzy
Thirty-Two is far too young
To leave this Earth
But she was so positive
She still felt lucky
To have existed
And so should you
I cannot imagine knowing the time
That you have left in this world
And that soon it may end
But she did
And as ill as she fell
She still talked of rainbows
I was blessed enough to talk to her
Through those last few months
If you knew her
You would feel blessed too
She had told me that a lot of people ask
About her bucket list
The list of things she still wants to do
Or didn’t get to do
The boxes she still
Needed to tick
She turned to me and said
“You know what, I’ve had a pretty good life”
And she meant it
It brought me to thinking
About this whole bucket list concept
How much focus we put
On the things we have not done
Today
For her
I write about the upside-down bucket list
The list of the things you have done
It may not be the country you always wanted to see
It could be as simple as your favourite tree
You used to climb
When you were little
The family Christmases that didn’t end up in fights
The times you called in sick and made it worth it
Movie marathons with your friends
Ocean
Air
The time you saw the sunrise
The time you saw the sunset
Being
Feeling
Time with loved ones
Laughing until your stomach hurts
Falling in love
Getting heartbroken
Getting stronger
Falling over
Crying
Forming scars
That end up as funny stories
You know how it goes
I am talking about all of the things
You have already done
Because at the end of the day
In those final moments
They are your upside-down bucket list
The things that made you
What you are right now
The words you pronounced wrong
The embarrassing things you did as a child
The even more embarrassing things you did as an adult
I encourage you to reflect
Lizzy would encourage it too
To reflect on the life
That you have already lived
The ups and downs
The mistakes
The laughs
The memories
Right now in this very moment
They are what we are made of
We are in our upside-down bucket list
And more lucky
Than we may realise
Today I saw a flower
It made me smile
It wasn’t on my bucket list
But I looked at it
Like I had always wanted to see it