Some people are thinkers. Some are doers. Many of us are list-makers. We make lists. We amend them. We add to them by attaching little sticky notes we write when physically separated from our master lists. Quite simply, we run our Baltimore lives this way.
I?m not talking about grocery lists (although we make those too.) I?m talking about lists of 15 to 20 chores that absolutely MUST get done. And no matter how many things we accomplish and cross off, the list remains constant as new tasks arise to take the place of the old.
It starts innocently enough. After all, we juggle a lot: spouses, houses, children, jobs, pets.
For example, as I made my way down today?s list, I made morning calls to set up appointments and cancel an order for a kitchen table and chairs.
Then, I took the JFX downtown to look at more tables and chairs, drove to Fells Point to exchange a bathrobe, went to the bank in Pikesville, visited the salon for a brow waxing and then signed papers for work we?re doing in the house. Suddenly the day was over.
What to do about all the things that remain undone? No problem. Today?s list just morphs into tomorrow?s.
Let?s face it. Lists can be an important line of defense when there?s way too much to remember. The problem is we get hooked, and suddenly find we can?t function without pieces of paper that tell us what to do.
With them, we are all-powerful ? Frankensteins of efficiency. Without them, we?re helpless losers, lucky to remember to buy a quart of milk at the Giant.
There?s no 12-step program for list makers. We?re destined to live our lives this way: Sometimes bemoaning our addiction, yet smugly delighting in our ability to climb any mountain, complete any task, multitask until we?re cross-eyed. No one needs to know our dirty secret: One of our greatest pleasures in life has nothing to do with food or sex or money. It happens when we take a pen and cross a completed task off our ever-present list.
Deborah Stone spent 15 years as a reporter and anchor at WJZ-TV and is currently a freelance writer. A 22-year resident of the Baltimore area, her dog, Elton allows her and her husband to share his home in Baltimore County.
