2 DO BEFORE I DIE -- What's On YOUR List?

(From The Hartford Courant -- By Adrian Brune)

Three years ago, MIKE OGDEN and his younger sister, MARGARET, were summoned to see GRUMPS -- their grandfather, newspaperman MICHAEL J. OGDEN, a former executive editor of THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. They thought it probably would be the last day they saw the ailing Grumps alive, and they expected a short visit.

Instead, Grumps talked for two hours, telling stories about his 91 years that included small triumphs and passing regrets.

Driving home, the siblings talked about what they might remember on their deathbeds. At that point, Margaret pulled out a list she had kept in her wallet for years. It was an inventory of all the things she wanted to do in her life, ranging from the serious to the scandalous. She called it her BEFORE I DIE LIST. The next day Mike wrote his.

"In a London bar days later, my friend CHRIS (DAY) and I started talking about the list. Unknown to me, he had written his a few weeks before," Ogden said, from his home in London. "We thought it would be interesting to put our own BEFORE I DIE STORIES online and encourage friends and family to do the same."

Through two years of emailing, coaxing and editing, Ogden and Day collected hundreds of stories, which they post on their website, www.2dobeforedie.com.

Last month, a book of those stories, 2 DO BEFORE I DIE -- THE DO-IT-YOURSELF GUIDE TO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE hit bookstores, and Ogden and Day made another checkmark on their lists.

2 Do Before I Die -- What's On Your List?