Larry Bruton is 50 years old. He has plenty on his list of things to do and he means to cross them off one-by-one. Crossing off items on that list is the ultimate goal. And the Holden man already has it under way. Last year for instance, he went the distance in the Maine Marathon.

“I wanted to say I ran a marathon rather than ran in a marathon,” he says. “That is a big difference to me.”

A nice, bold check mark on the master list. Bruton also gets one of those marks for skydiving, which he did in Pittsfield last year.

“I have also accomplished, over the years, to have traveled in every state east of Colorado. I still have not traveled in any state west of Colorado,” he says. While in Colorado, “I even managed to snow ski down a slope going backward down the hill all the way without stopping.”

Those of you with “ski backward down Colorado slope” on your list are just burning with envy. But there is plenty that Bruton has yet to achieve although, in some cases, he is halfway there.

“I haven’t been on a cruise, nor have I got to go snorkeling in some nice warm place like the Caribbean,” Bruton says. “I have done body surfing, but haven’t surfed on a surf board.”

Not that he hasn’t mastered water sports. “I’ve watered skied and got up out of the water on one ski. I played many sports and even managed to throw a curveball to a batter in a game while I was in the Air Force in England that made him fall out of the batter’s box. The ball I threw was a strike.”

Going on a cruise? Surfing? Child’s play in view of the Bruton’s most lofty goal of them all.

“The main thing for me now, though, in doing what I hope to do and may be harder than it may seem, is to find that person to get to enjoy doing it with,” he says.

“I realize that as time goes by, finding that person I’m hoping to find may actually be the hardest thing that I hope to accomplish on this bucket list — more than even running all 26.2 miles without stopping.”

SUBHEAD

The average lifetime in the United States is 78 years long. That’s 936 months, if you want to take a different view. It’s 4,067 weeks, 28,470 days, and God knows how many hours and minutes.

Surely it’s plenty of time to fit bungee-jumping, sky-diving, John Travolta-meeting, around-the-world-sailing, strip-club-visiting and sword-swallowing into your hectic lifestyle.

You know what might help? Keeping a list, like Bruton does. A simple chart of things you want to do before they drag you to your grave. Because let’s face it: if you don’t put this stuff down in writing, you might never swim with dolphins or sing Cher tunes on amateur night.

What to do before you kick the bucket? It’s commonly called a Bucket List after a movie by the same title, with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, hit the theaters. And, since then, millions of people have posted their own Bucket Lists online so their friends and family can see them.

Why? Because if you keep your list crumpled up and hidden in your sock drawer, who is going to pressure you to actually go out there and umpire a semi-pro baseball game, in accordance with number seven on your list?

Writing down your plans is easy. Making those plans public is one step closer to achieving them.

Actually, no it’s not. But it’s still pretty damn bold and, with that in mind, here are some more brave souls willing to announce what they mean to achieve and what they have already done. If you can help them in any way (this means you, Travolta), reporting and writing this story will have been worth it.

Here we go.

Ann Dearborn of Richmond decided to make a list of things she wants to do before she turns 40. Because everybody knows that turning 40 is like death.

“I tried to be realistic and keep it in budget,” she said. “I made a list of simple things that I want to get done this year. I’m a single parent who did not go out while raising my son. And since I am now an empty-nester, this is my list.”

The list includes whitewater rafting, learning a different language, learning to play an instrument, having a decadent Sunday brunch with mimosa, eating fish again after eschewing seafood for 30 years, waking to the sound of the ocean, seeing a sunrise at Fort Popham (which she recently crossed off the list).

She wants to see an off-Broadway play, skinny dip and have a picnic in the middle of a random field. Of course, if time gets short, she could somehow combine skinny dipping with the picnic.

And the clock is ticking for Dearborn. She turned 39 in the spring.

Perhaps Bruton might think about looking up Pat Long-Cressey, a 56-year-old Lewiston woman. She still has scuba diving, hiking the Appalachian Trail and writing a book on her list. But she got one of the big ones out of the way, so the rest should be gravy.

“Less than two years ago, my family bought me an unusual Christmas gift – a chance to go skydiving,” Long-Cressey says. “I had talked about wanting to do this so my daughter Kim decided, well, this would be a good time for me to accomplish at 55 years old.”

There are no available statistics on how many people plan to go skydiving but lose their nerve before they step out of the airplane. A moot point where Long-Cressey is concerned. Her family had no problem getting her into the plane — or out of it.

“Here I sit with my gift thinking, ‘Oh my God. I am going to be jumping out of a plane from 15,000 feet.’ Can you imagine that?” she says.

“When you first jump out, you’re above the clouds, mind you, and breathing can be a challenge for about a minute or two. And then you just fly like an eagle. Now you float around for a while and enjoy the views and now — okay — I’m falling toward the ground. The houses were very, very small but now they are starting to look larger and larger. Now how is it going to feel when I hit the ground? Is it going to hurt? Here we go, I safely hit the ground, I made it. I did it. I skydived and I lived.”

“My experience was absolutely phenomenal,” Long-Cressey says. “Once you’ve done this, you know you can do anything.”

David Burke, of Auburn, is on his way. He still has to take a canoe trip down the Allagash, visit New Zealand and hike the Appalachian Trail. How hard can all that be?

That’s what remained after Burke recently crossed several items from his list. He became a whitewater raft guide, earned an MBA, completed the bicycle Trek across Maine, visited New York City, Washington, D.C., New Orleans and San Francisco. He even learned to play the accordion.

“I apologize to all,” Burke said.

The list didn’t specify that he had to be any good at it.

Jenna Hart is 35 and lives in Dixfield. The goals on her Bucket List are a lot like the others. You know, hang glide, see the Eiffel Tower, meet John Travolta.

Wait, what?

“I think that he and his wife have a wonderful relationship,” Hart said. “And he has accomplished so much in his career and family life.”

Other, non-Travolta related items on her list include: Para-sailing, going on a commercial fishing trip, buying a house and having a small farm with animals and veggies, starting an animal refuge, owning a new car.

Happily erased from Hart’s Bucket List: “New York City, Boston, owning a dog, raising a couple birds, having kids and finding a soul mate.

It’s a good start. Now bring on Vinnie Barbarino.

Kirsty McGuckian Kopp, 34, of Auburn gets points deducted for being too unselfish with her Bucket List. Doing for others, pah!

“My Bucket List includes: travel to Machu Picchu, snorkel in Phosphorescent Bay in Puerto Rico, take my daughter to Disney World to see her glorious smile, set my mom up with a little stone cottage in the French countryside and write children’s books that foster optimism and psychological resilience.”

And then you’ll hang glide into Yankee stadium while playing a banjo, right?

Bobbie Thomas Loubier, 46, of Litchfield isn’t content to keep her dreams earthbound. The top two items on her list are: Go to space and work in a space station; grow plants to be consumed in space.

Fortunately, Thomas Loubier has a few ambitions that don’t require escape velocity. She wants to drive Route 66 from Chicago to California in her Corvette, which may be the coolest Bucket List item yet.

She wants to drive wine country in California, see the Grand Canyon “and yell at the top of my lungs,” go to Hawaii, Belize, Bermuda and “everywhere in Europe.”

She wants to see a live panda. She wants to take a seven-day Caribbean cruise and not get sick. She wants to travel in an RV around the country. She wants to meet Steven Tyler.

Wait, what?

She has already met Adam West, which was on her list. No, really.

She has been on a zip line in Brazil, rode up Mount Washington, hiked and camped Sunday River in October, started her own cafe (Cafe Bon Bon in Lewiston). She has helped start and own a comic book store, graduated from college, went in the Bonsai tree sanctuary and the Arnold Arboretum, went on the Corkscrew in Cedar Point, ate Cajun food and oysters in Texas and got paid for a professional photo shoot.

But she still hasn’t met Steven Tyler. It breaks your heart.

Beryle Martin, 47, of Auburn. What is it with all the running and hiking with these people?

“Legitimately qualify and run the Boston Marathon; hike the Appalachian Trail; ride my bike across the U.S.; see Serengeti Migration, Africa; see Iguazu Falls, Brazil; Cog Railroad up Mount Washington; travel to all 50 states (40 left to go).”

Our very last contributor, 75-year-old Lawrence A. Dearborn, has the ultimate Bucket List. It’s sad, it’s poignant, it’s super pragmatic.

It’s a goal that, sooner or later, we all will share.

“What I want to do,” the Richmond man says, “Is stay alive for two more years.”

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