I am blessed to have three lovely friends; our friendship dates back to our high school and youth group days (thirty-something years ago now!).
Sadly, I don’t have any photographic evidence from those days (actually it’s probably just as well!), but here are a couple of pics that were taken last year when we went on a South Pacific cruise together 🙂 .
One of them is my actual sister (that’s us in the front); the other two are sisters; and indeed we are all like sisters to each other.
These days we live scattered right across Brisbane, so we don’t actually get to see each other very often; you can’t just “drop in” on somebody that lives an hour’s drive away! So while on our cruise, we hatched a plan to ensure we would catch up in person, at least four times a year. Instead of giving presents for our birthdays, we would enjoy a special activity or experience together.
It started quite tamely, with a high tea for my birthday in January … and since then it’s evolved into more of a “bucket list birthday experience” that we celebrate together.
When my sister had her birthday in April, she coaxed us to try horse riding for the first time – something that was on her bucket list.
My friend Fred (not her real name – don’t ask me where the nickname came from, it’s just stuck!) had the next birthday, in September. For her bucket list birthday experience, she chose bouncing at Velocity in North Lakes.
Now, I must confess that I wasn’t altogether keen on this one; a feeling that was only amplified when we arrived, only to find we were the oldest “bouncers” by a long shot. The girl behind the counter thought it was awesome that we were being so adventurous, but I’m not sure what all the other people (primarily kids and teens, with a few social groups in their 20’s or 30’s) thought. A bunch of old middle aged women – one of us is even a grandmother – thinking they could hang with the cool kids and bounce?! As the youngsters would say, “WTF!”
The good news is, parents and others waiting around couldn’t actually see us bouncing, which was a relief. We started off on trampolines, and let me tell you, we’d forgotten how much energy you have to use just to bounce around. I think we lasted all of five minutes before deciding to explore what else was on offer.
There was bouncing dodge ball games, basketball hoops, a rock wall, and trampolines where you jumped before leaping off into a pit of foam blocks. I was so nervous the first time I tried bouncing into the pit, I don’t think I jumped so much as toppled into it. But it was such an amazing feeling I kept going back for more and got braver each time!
On Saturday, we headed off for a luscious lunch and wine-tasting – much more sophisticated 😉 . Until I mention the fact that not only have I never been drunk, but I also get super giggly just from one sip; I have a very low tolerance for alcohol. So even though all we had were 5 tastings (the equivalent of one standard glass), I was laughing uncontrollably and embarrassing my friends by the 2nd wine. Who needs a floor show when I’m around? Yup, I’m fun like that 😉 .
We are already thinking ahead, adding to our list of possible ideas for our next bucket list birthday experience – my list includes riding a segway, and going for a joyflight in a helicopter, while the others have mentioned go karting, a Story Bridge Climb (eek!) or maybe a close up animal experience – with tigers at Dreamworld, or swimming with dolphins at Seaworld.
And with two of us celebrating our 50ths in the next twelve months or so, we might even manage to fly somewhere exotic!
Do you like the idea of enjoying a bucket list birthday experience with friends or family? Do you do anything special to celebrate birthdays with your friends?