CREW’S FEET WRITING PROMPT MAY 2024

My Old Rusty Bucket List

Katharine announces new bucket list (hey, what’s on your list?)

Image created by author using OpenArt AI

When I was in high school, here’s what was on my bucket list:

• LEARN HOW TO SIT, WALK, AND TALK PROPERLY— The proper chair position requires a straight back, knees together, and hands folded on the lap, so said my teacher in finishing school. Mrs. Perfect also taught us to walk with a book on our heads and warned us against having any opinion about anything that might differ from our male companion. “What is most important,” she said over and over, “is to listen to your man and to be agreeable.” All this finishing of me was so that I could …
• GET MARRIED — This one was huge. It filled up more than half the bucket. A quarter of the seniors in my school were already waving engagement or wedding rings under the noses of all of us obviously inadequate nerds and nobodies. Without a ring, I was a loser who might go on to become an “old maid.” Unless I learned proper sitting, walking, and talking. Or not talking, as it were. But marriage wasn’t the be-all-and-end-all. Marriage was just a stepping stone I needed to step on so I could …
• HAVE CHILDREN: Doesn’t every girl want to have children?