Bucket Lists Evolve - Part 1

That is my dad and I on my wedding day.  He turned 80 two months after that picture was taken.  I always would forget my dad was older than most of my friend's dad because he never showed any signs of aging.  He still had dark hair, few wrinkles, and was physically active.  When he was a young man living on a farm in rural Saskatchewan, his bucket list was to be a cowboy and to serve our country. 

He became a cowboy on a ranch in rural Saskatchewan and he loved that.  When our country went to war in 1939, he joined the RCAF and served our country. 

I knew that he was a life long Yankees fan and when he was 79, he told me one thing on his bucket list was to watch the Yankees play live.  At the time, I was living about 4 hours away from Minneapolis so got us tickets to a three game series against the Twins.  My brother-in-law was once scouted by a major league ball team when he was a young man.  He also grew up in rural Saskatchewan and hadn't been out of it until he went to spring training.  He was homesick for the girl he loved so he quit after a week and came home and married my sister.  It turned out, it was also on his bucket list to attend a live major league baseball game, so the three amigos embarked on our journey. 

Honestly, we had the best time and we laughed the whole way there and back.  Most of the jokes were only fun to each other but trust me, we had a great time.  We saw the amazing work ethic of Kirby Puckett while he was still a hero and before that was tarnished.  Our seats were great and we were close enough to the dug-out to talk to Kirby and he volunteered to autograph our t-shirts that we had bought.  My dad was able to have a conversation with his fave Yankee pitcher of the day.  My brother-in-law ran up and down the stairs at every break making sure he bought everything available and eat everything available.  We literally had a riot.  It has made my top ten list of all time best weekends. 

It was bittersweet for me because I realized how old my dad was.  When we weren't at the game, he was napping and didn't want to do anything outside the games but rest.  Once he climbed down to our seats, he didn't want to leave until the end. 

Before my dad actually passed, he had two close calls.  Both times when he thought he was dying, he said, "thanks Don and Shell for taking me to the baseball game". 

I am so glad that I could help my dad complete this item on his bucket list. 

Bucket lists evolve.  On my wedding day, I found out the last item on his bucket list. 

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