Find the joy in your life

This blog was originally going to be about bucket lists. And, as sometimes happens, as background I asked Barb to again watch one of our favorite movies, "Bucket List." It stars Morgan Freeman (Carter) and Jack Nicholson (Edward). The two terminally-ill men go off to experience life on their terms before they die.
I was going to talk about our bucket lists, which are quite short. Mine included three items: Own a Corvette, cruise the Panama Canal, and complete my Master's Degree. Well, a year ago we owned a Miata (a cute little convertible), and I will graduate from South Dakota State University with my MS in journalism on May 7. The third item -- the Panama Canal -- will have to wait.
Barb's bucket list includes going to Hawaii and owning a bed & breakfast. As for those, we hope to make the Hawaii trip a possibility yet. And the bed & breakfast, well, we're working on that -- looking into a B&B operation in Lincoln that, if we could swing it, would be a great adventure for us. But only time will tell.
But watching the "Bucket List" got me thinking. It's a great movie, and hard to watch near the end without a handkerchief in hand. In the movie, Carter and Edward go sky diving, get a tattoo, race a Shelby Mustang, visit France, go on a safari, see the Taj Mahal, visit the Great Wall of China, and go to Hong Kong. But the movie's most poignant moment begins as they're sitting atop a tomb at the pyramids of Egypt when Carter (Freeman) tells Edward (Nicholson), “You know, the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions. Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not. ‘Have you found joy in your life?’ 'Has your life brought joy to others?’”
Later in the show, the two friends part ways when Edward is angered by Carter's attempt to reconcile him with his estranged daughter. But later, as Carter lies on his death bed, Edward reads a note from his dying friend, urging him to "find the joy in your life." As Edward gives the eulogy and pays tribute to his friend at his friend's funeral, Edward is shown finally reconciling with his daughter and then kissing his granddaughter, thus crossing off of his bucket list the entry to "kiss the most beautiful girl in the world."
I found that a most touching and beautiful sentiment, and words certainly to live by. "Have you found joy in your life?" and "Has your life brought joy to others?" Hopefully we can all answer "yes." And, if you have found the joy in your life, you have led a rich and blessed life, indeed.