List Day

Today is Friday – also known as "List Day" in our house.

Ali and I are both list-makers. We both enjoy the process of writing down the things that need to be accomplished. Occasionally we even break out in a good natured argument about who gets to actually cross things off the list when they are finished. That is, after all, the best part of list making and keeping!

Because weekends, and particularly spring and summer weekends, are so precious, we make lists every Friday for the coming two days – mostly to assure that we squeeze as much enjoyment out of the 48 available hours as possible.

Here's our list from last weekend:

It includes our "home life" tasks ranging from grocery shopping to mowing and laundry and our "hobby life" enterprises like painting, gardening and crafting. I'm not sure why I get such enjoyment out of looking over lists from past weeks. Perhaps it's that each one is a snapshot in time – a portrait of the assorted tasks and endeavors that we are both successful and ineffective at accomplishing. I also am entertained by whatever we deemed to be important at any particular point in time be it garage sales, flea markets, a trip to the library or giving the dogs a bath.

Maybe it's that these tiny little moments, frozen in time on a wrinkled up, water stained piece of paper, that compose our lives – list by list by list.

Maybe "List Day" is the same reason I blog.

A friend who visits this space regularly asked, when she came to Bible Study this week, if I have ADHD. In her words, "When you go to the blog every day you have no idea what you might find!" We laughed hysterically, but it's a fair statement. One day might be an essay on something spiritual while the next is a recipe or a craft project. Or a photograph of something silly. Or a story about longing. Or a poem about nothing.

All I know is that this blog is composed of whatever happens to be important to me in one particular moment in time - frozen somewhere in cyberspace. Composing a life, bit by bit by bit.

Maybe that makes me ADHD. My friend said that it makes me interesting. All I know is, I'm perfectly OK with either one.