When I retired, I thought my life would be limp and loose, nothing to do, no emergency meetings, no planning, and no deadlines. Boy, was I wrong. I have so many things to do that a single piece of paper isn’t enough. I bought a notebook to keep track of what I do, need to do, and have already done. After several years of retirement, I am busier than ever and go through three notebooks a year.
Today is Thursday and the week is almost over. I’m out of my home base working on a novel, so I’m a little wonky, things are not lined up in a row, but this is what my week, so far, has looked like. And they were all listed as MUST DO. Get a Firestick (you already heard about that one), go to lunch with my friend Trish (chorizo and shrimp tacos—yummy), stop the newspaper (second notice requiring online submission, followed by an email, then a phone call), figure out the mail thing, which meant I had to rent a post office box), walk every day (I only walked three days because it was raining one day), call my mean editor and protest her suggestions on my Wrinkly Bits: Wasting Timebook (that always takes a long time as she can be very cranky), send post cards to my grandchildren (which also meant a trip to the USPS to buy stamps), work on getting Covid vaccine inoculation with the VA, which took more than twenty calls before securing my spot, and lastly ponder the reason that people I talk to in person or on the phone rename me. This week I was called Honey, Sweet Buns, My Dear, and most recently Elderly Veteran. Now that one clearly rankled me.
As I look at my list of what I accomplished this week, none takes much time, so I wonder why I can’t get more done. How did I manage to teach school, raise kids, care for my grandmother, and earn a college degree when I had the same amount of time in my week as I do now? I get up early and go to bed late, don’t watch much TV and listen to books while I’m out walking, which means I sometimes multitask.
So what is the remedy? Should I add more things to my list? Or, do what my mean editor says and buy more list books? Or eliminate list-making altogether? Raise my expectations or lower them? I cannot seem to figure it out. If you have a suggestion, I’d love to hear it…and I’ll put it on my list.
A final note: one thing I will keep on my list is to wear my mask. My turn with the vaccine will keep me from getting Covid, but I care about you, too. So I will wear it just in case.
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