Not done yet: 28 things I still want to do

OK, so I’m 50. Now what? Here’s a list of 28 things I still want to do, from Broadway to Blarney Castle; Mint Juleps to Mackinac Island. Why 28? Averaging one per year, I think I might need to rest when I’m 78.

• Climb a mountain, any mountain and throw my arms up in the air in triumph at the summit.
• See Niagara Falls and fight the urge to quote the 3 Stooges while I’m there.
• Get a Library of Congress ISBN number under my name.
• Dance with Tom on our 25th — and 50th — Wedding Anniversary to When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, the first dance song at our wedding.
• See a show on Broadway in New York City, preferably Les Miserables but Wicked will do.
• Watch a baseball game with writer/historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and discuss her great baseball book Wait ‘Til Next Year.
• Shake hands with the President of the United States, doesn’t matter which one.
• Wear a designer dress to a black-tie, formal affair.
• Dance at my sons’ weddings, to anything BUT The Harlem Shake or Gangnam Style.
• With Tom and my boys, climb to the top of Blarney Castle, the ancestral home of the McCarthy clan.
• Feel the beat of a grandchild’s heart against mine.
• Go to Mass at St. Patricks Cathedral celebrated by the Archbishop of New York.
• See Matt graduate college
• See Jack graduate college.
• See Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
• Take a hot air balloon ride.
• Venture out on that skywalk thing over the Grand Canyon.
• Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge (can you do that?)
• See Jimmy Buffett in concert.
• Drive the Going to the Sun Road into Glacier National Park.
• Visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and have my picture taken next to Ozzie Smith’s plaque since I voted him in
• Have a drink at a bar in Key West, Fla.
• Stay at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.
• Attend a wine tasting with a world class sommelier.
• Drink a Mint Julep at the Kentucky Derby, funny hat optional.
• Get my picture taken with the Stanley Cup (preferably because the Blues have won it).
• Sit on the front porch of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.
• Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston, Mass.

Just for fun, I’m throwing in five things I hope I never do:

• Read an entire book on a Kindle or electronic device.
• Watch an entire series of anything on Netflix.
• Cancel my subscription to a daily newspaper.
• Forget how to ride a bike.
• Be asked to appear on an episode of ” Hoarders.”