AKA The 'Perkins's Tent' List
I am, very slowly, getting
ready to go off on vacation again. I have made myself a list of things I have
to do before I go. Currently it has 34 items on it. Some of them are simple;
find someone to take over the lease of my house, box up all my stuff, find
available storage, rent a truck, get help moving my boxes, cancel all my
utilities…. Others are a wee bit more
complicated.
I try very hard
to cross 2 or 3 things off my list every day but it is nonetheless growing longer and longer. I insist it fits on one page (because more than one page would be overwhelming) but the newer items are written in tiny print squished into the margins and the whole thing shares qualities with Perkins's Tent (the one Mr Granger borrowed for the Quidditch World Cup).
Even the jobs I do do (choose
and order new prescription glasses) lead only to more items to be put on the
list (pick up prescriptions glasses, learn how to use my benefit plan to get money
back - a more time consuming process than one might hope I discover as it
requires entering information online and then waiting for a password to be
mailed back to me by snail mail (really?) before being allowed to access the system – and,
since my chosen glasses cost more than my benefits allow, I also have to find and
fill out appropriate paperwork so my ex can apply for the excess cost from his plan, and, of course, encourage him to do
so…). Some jobs, obviously, like getting new glasses, I could have done months
ago but didn’t.
Getting a new passport is another
job I could have done months ago but didn’t. The passport office opens each
weekday at 7:30 am. On Friday, the last day of school, I download, print out, and fill
in an application form. Over the weekend I go to Walmart to get photos taken
(two Walmart’s to be precise, in very different geographic directions from
Arnprior, as the first one, who would have guessed, didn’t do passport photos.) Monday morning, the first day of summer holidays, at 7:15 am, I am in Ottawa lined
up outside the passport office with my photos and double-checked paperwork clutched in my hand,
though, I quickly realize, the first day of summer holidays might not be the most well thought out day of the
year to choose to stand in this particular line.
I go to Deep River to check
on the boxes I have in storage there and see a motor boat that would be perfect
for one of my kids. Out comes my list: check out boat, learn whether our marina
slip is big enough, find out how much boat insurance is... and, oh yes,
thinking of insurance, I have to make sure my car insurance is pre-paid before
I go, and I have to find out about and buy travel insurance, and make sure that
someone knows where my will is, and write a letter to my Mum…
I stop in for coffee with Rick and Terry. "Put that on your list, they joke, 'Coffee with Rick and Terry.'" and I do. And it reminds me of all the other things that are not on my list, the most important things of all actually; share a glass of wine with Shelley, have a swim with Suzanne at her cottage, go to Steve's retirement dinner, call Sheila...
Some items on my list are genuine
chores. Others are a total joy. Like shopping for new sailing clothes. I
remember in the fall buying a new outfit or two for school and wanting,
desperately, at that time, to be buying sailing clothes instead. It seems only
a few heart beats ago, but, somehow, now, already, I get to buy sailing clothes.
I pick them up super-cheap second-hand at Value Village and think of them as
disposable. I don’t want anything that I am too attached to so that if they get
covered in red paint (see Northern Magic) or left on a tiny island (see Hao) I
don’t mind too much. Also, I want to travel as light as possible so that if I
jump ship (see Sydkorset) or disaster strikes (see Picton Castle) I can walk
away carrying all my belongings easily on my back. But, since I am going to be
wearing the same clothes day after day after day, I also want things I like. So
- a few choice items. I cruise the aisles, for when I am cruising the isles, feeling
like a kid in a candy store picking out one warm polar fleece, two quick dry
t-shirts, one lightweight dress and I have trouble not doing a happy dance as I make
my way to the checkout line. (Yes. Yes!
YES! I’m going to get to go sailing again! YES!!)
As I’m waiting to pay I
remember that I have to check that my debit card isn’t going to expire, and
alert my credit card company to the fact that I’m going to be abroad, and download
that facebook app my kids were telling me about onto my new phone - the new
phone that I haven’t chosen or bought yet… and I pull out my list and scribble
these new thoughts down.
Unfortunately, despite my
definite shopping success, I can’t even cross ‘buy sailing clothes’ off of my
list yet because I still need a new bra, so, as usual, it’s longer than before.
But I’m going to get to go
sailing! Yeah! Hip Hip Hooray!
Assuming, of course, that I
can get through this list.
I should be able to. It's down to 48 items now.
