Lists ✔

There was a time where my claim to fame seemed to be mother of triplets plus 1 (for a blurry few months all under the age of 2). I say was, because now with 4 young adults living at home, at 4 different universities in their bedrooms (pandemic related), I am probably more widely recognised as the walker of the friendly, green eyed dog.

During that time I needed to

• Change a minimum of 960 diapers in a month
• Trim 80 nails in a week excluding my own
• Cover 60 books in paper and contact (perfectly I must add) by Monday
• Deliver to and from ballet, karate, art, rugby and netball in  different places at the same time

And the list goes on

The most frequent question I was asked, after “how were your children conceived?” and if they (of different genders) were identical, was “how did you manage?” My standard answer, albeit hackneyed, was always that I loved every minute of it, they listened to my every word and I was organised.

I was organised but the real secret lay in my lists.

Lists of:

Things to do;

Things to make;

Things to buy;

Things to pack;

Things to cook

And the lists go on

My love of lists started in my youth. Born and grown in my head, they resided there until memory occasionally failed and I discovered there was something strangely satisfying in seeing the list on paper and marking the items off once achieved. Over the years they have migrated from scraps of paper to a diary to spreadsheets on a computer until reaching their current home in the notes section of my phone.

A manual pencil tick has been replaced with a green tick emoji.

A list (for me):

Breaks down something that feels insurmountable into smaller manageable parts;

Creates order out of chaos;

Directs and motivates when feeling flat or rudderless;

Focuses attention on to things that I can actually control;

Is never-ending, as items are removed new ones take their place; and

Ensures that things will get done.

Listed items supersede all fleeting thoughts and good intentions. If you don’t make the list, execution cannot be guaranteed.

Some things, like toilet paper, are constant on my lists. Others have evolved over the years, diapers replaced by sanitary pads and protein bars instead of Tiny Teddies. The brown bags for school lunch are now obsolete.

A combination of the world slowing down and my children growing up left me listless in more ways than one.

A line from an uninspiring and odd miniseries I watched recently, seemed synchronous and relevant.

“It’s not actually about doing what’s on the list” said the main character, “It’s about doing the list.”

So while my job as ‘Queen of Logistics’ (a title bestowed on me by a friend) was made redundant, leaving me with a few open slots on my list of things to do, I am tentatively taking time to insert a few new items to fill the void.

Now if you check out my notes, in between the dinner, dog and do items, there are a few self-care items just for me and just to be.