The Diary of a Diary-Keeper

  

One of my to-dos for 2016 is to sort my to-do lists of the past decade. I’m going to go through my old diaries, see what’s pending in there, make a Mother of All Lists, and then strike the tasks off the list as I tackle each chore with ruthless determination till none remain. Tomorrow I will go through the stacks of desk diaries and personal planners which I use to organize my work, home chores and leisure activities.

 

It’s been at the back of my mind for a few years now, somewhere on the vague and obscure outer periphery of my mind’s mind, like an object one can see out of the corner of their eye, and now that I have finally written it down in my list of things to do, I will actually do it.

I know I have completed and achieved many, many tasks and targets, thanks to the daily lists reminding me to Just Do It. I can’t believe I  used to pack in so much work and activity in one day. I must have been crazy at that time.   

There are some things I couldn’t do because of lack of time, willpower or wherewithal. I still haven’t bought a stone-carved fountain for the garden. My trip to the moon is still pending.

Some things don’t need to be done any more because they were time-bound and are no longer required. I don’t need to return the DVD as the shop has shut down. I don’t need to get a rattle for my daughter now because she turned 18 in November. That is one of the things I regret not managing to do.

Some things I don’t need to do as times have changed and so have my tastes and needs. I don’t need to fix the tear in my velvet stole because nobody wears velvet now.

And some things I haven’t done for so long that I should give myself an award for procrastination. This too I will do later.

                                                                  

  

                                       

My diaries have contact numbers of people and places I have forgotten; receipts, business cards and bills stored as bookmarks; recipes, menus and guest lists for dinners; memories in the form of old photographs, ticket stubs and hand-made cards; pictures of clothes and jewelry I liked, to show to my designers for referral; work plans and notes; interviews and travel notes for newspaper articles; travel plans, itineraries and packing lists; and quick, rough sketches of things that caught my fancy.

Although I plan to burn them all after making the Grand List (I don’t want anyone prying through them when I’m gone), I will miss my diaries. These diaries have been a driving force in my life. The days I did not make a plan I made double and even triple bookings and got a lot of flak for overcommitting. Or I forgot to attend a dinner, and remembered when the host called to ask what was holding me up. Or I spent a week floating like a dandelion puff because I could not find my diary to tell me what to do.

This is one of my New Year Resolutions for 2016. I mean it. I will do this tomorrow.