The Listmaker

The day after the migraine, everything seemed better. The weather was suddenly great--sunny, low humidity, a breeze. The lilacs are in fragrant full bloom.

I was no longer intimidated by the rat. I'm using my damn basement!

And I felt good. It was as though all the muscles that had tensed up all day Tuesday, causing me such agony, had relaxed overnight. Well, the 1/2 of a muscle relaxant I took at bedtime might have had something to do with that. But in any case, suddenly I had a lot of energy.

Which was a good thing, because suddenly I had a lot to do. And just one more day off work before my vacation ended.

So I made a list:

Cash machine
Pick up/drop off dry cleaning
move the bee balm
move the coreopsis
scan in the Ernie photos
buy multivitamins
exercise in the basement, the rat be damned
call the cheery door salesman and see if he found us a less-spendy door (answer: possibly)
plant grass seed
sort the recycling

OK, that's really not that much to do. But it looks impressive, marching down the page in a long column. And it feels good when I cross each one off. I feel like I've done something significant, accomplished something, even if it's only killing the coreopsis.

(Just kidding; it looks like it's going to survive the move.)

Do you do this, too? Write down your chores--partly so you remember them, but mostly because it feels so good to cross them off the list once they're done?

I know some people who will write down a chore after they've done it, just so they can then cross it off. I will not admit to that. No, I will not. But I understand it.

I do not go so far as to write down things like "take a shower," or "brush my teeth," but if the list doesn't look impressive enough, I might be tempted.

Not on my list: Walk the boys. Chase Riley. Nap with Boscoe on the porch.

Those don't need to be written down. Those are just a given, just a part of an ordinary day off. Those will never be crossed off.