What do you have on your bucket list?
Do you want to go sky-diving? Visit all the countries in the world? Finish a novel? While some of us have may smaller goals to cross off the list than others, probably all of us have things we want to experience before we die. While a “bucket list” is typically just the leftover things you haven’t done yet late in life, it can also be a way of working backward.
For 81-year-old Tommy Hagan, his bucket list is designed to help him relive a childhood he missed out on.
Hagan spent most of his young life in an orphanage in Renfrewshire, Scotland.
Though these homes are designed to care for children who have been abandoned or who otherwise don’t have anywhere else to go, Hagan’s stay at Quarriers Care Home was not an easy one. Instead of being loved and cared for, Hagan says it was a constant struggle full of physical abuse:
“They were supposed to look after us but they didn’t do it. There were a woman and a man. The woman carried a belt in her hand all the time. I got beaten every morning.”
Still, despite all the hardships that Hagan has been through, he’s not giving up his youthful exuberance.
Hagan was finally able to leave the orphanage when he was 16-years-old and had a hard time adjusting to normal life on the outside. Still, he persevered. Recently he’s been helped in his journey by Mind Mosaic, a non-profit organization which provides affordable therapy and counseling services. Throughout the process, they’ve encouraged Hagan to have a little more fun.
As a result, he’s written out a bucket list—and is well on his way to completing it!
One of the big items on it was to see the butterflies at Edinburgh’s Butterfly World.
Still, Hagan has also accomplished other childhood dreams—including learning how to be a rock and roll drummer! For their part, the counselors at Mind Mosaic say that Hagan’s resilience has inspired them more than he may ever know. Elaine Wroe, one of the support workers, told STV News:
“He’s taught me to have resilience and to keep going. He can tell you the name of every plant and bird. He still has that drive to grow and keep going. He’s had a hard life and deserves our help to have a good life now.”
Congratulations on your second life and good luck completing your list, Tommy!
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