Write on Blog...Check!

I have always been a list person. Even as a little kid I liked it when my mom left us a list of chores because each time I was able to cross something off of that list I felt a weird satisfaction. (Not that it made the chores any more enjoyable, but at least I got to cross something off...) As a busy high school student involved in different musical activities, student government, plays, classes, work, and friends, lists continued to be a familiar friend. College brought even longer lists with the onset of real homework, and the need to stay on top of assignments myself (as my teachers no longer cared whether or not we remembered and pretty much stopped reminding us...), as well as callings, work, and even more activities.

The mission brought different lists, though equally (if not more) important than the ones I had made before. Sure there were the less significant grocery lists, lists of stuff to write home about, lists of people to write back to, and lists of things to be done on P-day. Then there were the lists of investigators, lists of what we were going to teach them, lists of things to do to prepare for their baptisms, and (toward the end) lists of the sounds, smells, and sights I would miss about Houston when I had returned home again.
I realize that I get great satisfaction from making lists. Even more, I enjoy crossing things off of lists, which makes things like “to do” lists and packing lists some of my top favorite types of lists. However, more recently I realized that I sometimes go a bit too far. I noticed that sometimes I will make a list of things “to do” and because I know I will not get to most of them that day (or even that week sometimes) I will write other things on the list that are easier to do...or even things that I have already done. I admit it, I have written “wake up,” “shower,” “get dressed,” and other such “to dos” on a list I make in the middle of the day. Then I will promptly cross each of them off as if I had achieved a great goal, and justify putting off some of the less pleasant “to dos” on the same list because I at least crossed something off. And let’s face it: some of those things that are “less desirable” get passed from list to list to list...and never quite get crossed off. Though I’m not sure exactly what it is, I think I am discovering something about myself here... I’ll have to ponder that, but at least now I can cross something off my list today: write on blog.