I’m a Maker of Lists

So much is going on right now I had to start making “to do” lists, but this morning I accomplished a miracle – I walked into a clinic and got a COVID CPR test on the spot! One of my lists cited all the sites I’d tried to register for a test to no avail. I had to pay for it today, but after being told I’d be on stand-by for today in case someone cancelled, a very kind technician said, “Oh I’ll take her in between registered persons!” I was in and out in ten minutes! Sometimes there are advantages to being an “old lady!”

I’ll soon be on my way to Costa Rica with a friend to bird in the high Savegre Mountains at Savegre Mountain Lodge. I needed to get a COVID test to be sure I wasn’t asymptomatic! Now I can cross that off the list. But I have a list of things to do, write-up, purchase etc. for the pet sitter, another list of things to do around the house, and a third list of items to pack.

Alfred used to say he sometimes thought my lists had lists, and he’s right, I do have “sub-topics” but I find it is the only way to keep track of minutiae, i.e. do I have enough cat litter to last until I go and until I get back, which food is my finicky cat going to be willing to eat and do I have enough, stop the newspaper, what about the mail, do I have enough of a food supply for the bird feeders, how am I going to pack a camera bag, binoculars, handbag, book and carry one and make it look like just two items?

See also  Some Thoughts Along Life’s Road

Then there are book presentations and book stores to follow-up on, dog grooming, clothes decisions – is everything clean and in good repair – altitude medication to pick up, and on it goes – 54 line items at this point! Who could possibly remember all that without lists!

I’ve been known to get up at 3 a.m. if I wake up and think of something that I’m sure I forgot to put on one list or another. Making lists is one thing, but there is a wonderful sense of satisfaction when something gets crossed off the list – done – and pure euphoria when everything is marked “done” and I’m on my way out the door to a new adventure. More about that when I return home!