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?

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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!