Life is not a List

I'm a list person. I like lists because then I don't have to remember everything in my head which makes me less stressed and nicer to be around. I also like lists because they show me if I'm making progress. I must confess, sometimes I write something on a list that I've already done, just so I can check it off. Sad, I know, but its a trait I inherited from my father. Plus, sometimes its the jumpstart I need when I'm not motivated, although deep down I know I'm just cheating. Lately, life has been full of lists...stuff to pack, supplies to buy, important computer/technology tasks to solve, papers to mail to some oraganization, brilliant schemes for tricking the TSPC into giving me my teaching license for less money...the lists go on and on. It takes alot of energy to keep all of these lists going. Especially when I keep losing them and have to spend all that time re-writing the lists I already made. As some of you may know, lists can get depressing, so take a deep breath with me while I remind myself that life is NOT a list. Life is enjoying the people around me and embracing with joy the future I'm being given, even when I can't control it or be 100% prepared. This picture helped me remember what all of my recent lists are really for. These kids are second graders and next year, most of them will be in my class. This means that in twelve months, I will know (and hopefully be able to pronounce) their names, interests, fears and annoying habits and I will be saying goodbye to them, ready to hand them off to the fourth grade. I will probably forget alot about them in time, but I doubt I will forget their faces. And I hope they remember some of what I showed them about life, hopefully about life beyond the lists. And what about these lists that hang over my head each day? In twelve months, they will be utterly forgotten, decaying in the Roseburg landfill, as insignificant as those Guess jeans I had in Jr. High are to me now.