I'd like to say this is a new development and blame it on aging, but, truth be told, I've always had a hard time remembering things. It's not that I'm stupid; it's more like my mind is too full of other things. My mind makes connections sometimes all on its own.
For instance, I started my fall cleaning weeks ago. It's still not done. Why? Because I decided to change up some things upstairs, which meant cleaning out junk I'd been saving, which led to getting rid of my old bed, which led to moving another bed into my room, which led to rearranging furniture, which led to changing out and washing curtains, which led to making more piles of things to sort, which led to ... And now I need to make a list of things I still need to do because one thing is leading to another and I totally forget now why I started this purging/fall clean-out in the first place.
I'm a master list maker. When I don't make lists, bad things happen. Take today, for example.
I am attending my daughter-in-law's baby shower. I need to bring soda, juice, and cookies. Oh yes, and I need the gifts. And I need to make sure my friends know where they're going because the map and the actual street don't really coexist. And I have to be early to make sure the soda and juice and cookies get where they're going. I bake the cookies the night before, and I get up at 5:00 a.m. to pour ice over everything in the cooler, including the cranberry-apple juice. But. not the orange-mango juice because that's in the fridge already.
Of course, as I am trying to get to the shower, it's raining like crazy out, so now I'm worried about my hair frizzing up like Bozo the clown. I get everything into the car -- cooler with drinks, bag with cookies, bag with gifts. I am running fifteen minutes behind schedule, all the time having that nagging feeling that I am forgetting something.
Did I make a list? Of course I didn't make a list. Everyone makes fun of me when I make lists, so I didn't make a list. It's drinks and cookies and gifts. How hard can this really be?
When I arrive, I realize that I forgot to take the orange-mango juice out of the fridge. It is still back at my house. I offer to go back and get it, but we end up not needing it, anyway, so it's all good and no one knows what an idiot I am for not making a list.
Afterward, when I finally roll home again, I have my youngest pop the cork on come bubbly and I mix myself an orange-mango mimosa. I may not have a list to write, but I do have a blog entry to write and a school paper to write. Might as well make it all interesting. Besides, the orange-mango juice is trying to hog the fridge space I need for more bubbly. Also, if I remember this all correctly and without a list, I still have an awful lot of sorting, filing, and rearranging still left to do around here, and, without a list, bad things happen.
1. Drink mimosas.
2. Write paper.
3. Drink mimosas.
4. Clean house.
5. Drink mimosas.
6. Put more crap away.
7. Drink mimosas.
8. Check social network sites.
9. Drink mimosas.
10. Write the blog.
11. Drink mimosas.
I see a list. I detect a pattern. All is right with the world.
