Lists!

I forget things easily.  I swear I don’t do it on purpose.  I just forget.  Even last week I had a meeting for my teens on Sat. night.  All week it was in my head to go to this meeting, don’t forget it and be there.  Guess what?  I forgot all about it.  Wanna know why?  Well I failed to write it down, failed to make it a part of my ‘to do’ list.

Going to Alaska we simply can’t forget anything.  Not only for the inconvenience factor, but most importantly for the safety factor we must, must, MUST remember to pack this and do that.

Therefore we have lists.  And brother I’m here to tell ya we have lots of lists.  We have the ‘need to buy before the trip’ list.’  We have the ‘need to get done to the Wing,’ list.  A very important list is the ‘pack list.’  I also have my own personal list of ‘things I need to make sure gets done to the house’ list and the ‘buy for the house’ list.  This is important because the kids will be staying home with family and friends, I want to make sure that everything is as convenient and easy for them as I can possibly make it. 

I need to do all this AND my regular ‘to do’ list from now till June of next year.  I am a Mom to three wonderful, super busy kids.  They have activities and require taxi service and needs.  I work part time, my employer has things he wants me to do.  I volunteer at my kids two schools and go to church.  I have commitments to them that I must fulfill.

You can see why this takes so much planning and time. 

I have a love/hate relationship with lists.  But with our Alaska trip I am going to have to be extra diligent in making a list, and yes, checking it twice to make sure we have done all that we need to do, all that we need packed, and all that needs to be done in preparation for leaving the house for three weeks.  I cannot forget this time.  I have to pay attention and not forget this time.  This is not a trip to let my head float into the clouds.

Just so you know, these lists keep getting longer and longer.  Our 1^st time sitting down it took us three hours of brain storming.  Since then we have added tons more to these lists. 

I’ll look into posting the lists.  Well maybe not my personal ‘to do’ list.  After all I doubt you are all that interested in when I have to pick up and drop off one of the kids.  But maybe the pack list would be helpful for any of you are hoping to one day do this trip.  Or maybe you can look at it, offer up a suggestion or maybe it will just give you a really great laugh.