Happy 24th Birthday, Evan!

Today would have been my brother’s 24th birthday. It’s so hard for me to believe he would be that old. I can’t really imagine him being any older than the six year-old boy I remember (the way he looks in this picture is the way I remember him). I wonder if he would be tall, no one in our family is very tall. I wonder if his hair would still be blonde or if it would look more like a dirty blonde or light brown like mine. I wonder where he would have gone to college and what he would have majored in. I wonder if he would have a girlfriend and if I would like her.

On his birthday seven years ago, I went and got this tatoo on my lower back in his memory. Today I wanted to do something in his honor again. So taking Mark's advice of "living like you're dying" and in honor of my brother's life being far too short, I decided to make my very own bucket list.

In my mind, I’ve had a few things I knew I would like to do before I kick the bucket, but I’ve never formally made a list. Watching Mark and his battle with cancer has shown me that you shouldn't wait to be told you are dying to actually live like you are dying. Because the reality is, we're all dying. I don't say that to sound grim, but none of us are going to live forever and if we wait until we are given a reason to make a bucket list, the odds of us actually having enough time left to check off all the items aren't that great. If you know me well, you know I am constantly making lists anyway so it's shocking I haven't already done this.

Since I've never really given the idea of a bucket list too much thought until today, my list is probably going to be short starting out. But I want this to be an ongoing list that I continue to add to and, hopefully, check items off! I'm going to give this list it's very own post so that it's easy to find and easy to update.

I hope that once I write the list, I remember to truly live each day to the fullest. If not for myself, then for my sweet little brother, Evan.