Rural Roots – Jam-packed day planner
Posted on November 12, 2014 by Maple Creek‘Oh my gosh!’ was the response of my husband and teenage son when they recently got a glimpse of my day planner.The haggard and dog-eared book entitled ‘2014 Do It All Mom Planner’ comes from Chapters. I love almost everything about it, except for the title. So, I changed it with a hand-written addition to make it read, ‘The (DON’T WANT TO) Do it All Mom Planner.’
I like that title better and quite honestly, at the age of 40-something, I’m well over the desire to DO IT ALL!
The astounded comments by my family were in response to the jam-packed entries on each date of my 2014 planner. When you look at it, it’s alarmingly full. I could see by the look in my husband’s eyes that he was sure I was overdoing it and certainly trying to DO IT ALL!
But, I had a little explaining to do.
Yes, every single day of my day planner is covered from top to bottom. I have phone numbers and appointments and stories to write. Some entries are in pencil, some in pen, and some scream out in red Sharpie. Other entries are highlighted, meaning they’re complete, while others are circled boldly, meaning DO IT YESTERDAY! However, this is not because I’m that busy, it’s because I’m THAT FORGETFUL!
At the ripe reading-glass-requiring age of 46, I find that my memory is failing as fast as my eyesight. I used to be able to make one-word entries in my day planners.
I could write things like, ‘Appointment’ and know who the appointment was with, what time it was at and where I had to go to get there. I could also write things like ‘Pie’ and know that I had to bake one for the Fall Supper and have it there by 4 p.m. that day. Sometimes I would simply write, ‘Story’ and I knew what story I had to write and when it was due.
These days, however, dealing with my day planner is a completely different adventure. If I see the word, ‘Appointment’ on my agenda, it could mean anything. Was it an appointment with the doctor, the dentist, the chiropractor or the veterinarian? And was that appointment for me or for my son, my daughter, my husband or my dog?
And if I see ‘Pie’ in my day planner, I often think it was a message to make myself one, and then eat it too. Was it pumpkin pie I was craving on the day I made that entry, or was it chocolate, coconut or lemon?
My memory is failing me with increasing regularity, so I have moved from one-word agenda entries to entire paragraphs. The entries now read something like this: ‘Pie’ for Fall Supper at 4 p.m. Bring to church basement. Don’t forget to add whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Brush your teeth before you go.’
And if I’m making an entry about a story I have to write, I pretty much have to spell out the whole thing on the spot in my planner, or I’ll forget the people I have to interview, the time I was to meet them and what I was to write about. These entries now look like this, ‘Interview Joe Blow at 4 p.m. at his farm located 4 miles east of Pleasantville. Joe is that guy you called yesterday (see yesterday’s agenda entry). He has cows and horses and wheat fields – you’re going there to talk about the cows (see yesterday’s agenda entry). Remember to brush your teeth before you go (FYI – toothbrush is in the bathroom).
It’s kind of nice to think I have a busy enough life to fill a day planner, but really, it’s an agenda mirage.
All I really have is a failing memory!
Email Christalee Froese at Lcfroese@sasktel.net or visit 21days2joy.wordpress.com to see her Art for Orphans Gallery.
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