Woes of a List Maker

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

Yesterday as I was having lunch with my sister I felt a flutter against my foot as I reached into my purse to pull out my wallet.  I assumed something had fallen out, so I did a quick scan of the floor around me but didn’t see anything. It was probably nothing, I thought. That is, until I got to the grocery store.

I gathered my reusable bags, grabbed a cart, and rummaged in my purse for the grocery list I was certain I had placed in there before I left home to have lunch. I pulled things out. I looked in all the pockets. I searched inside folded receipts, a folded script for a mammogram, and a small notebook. I found tissues (new and used), several pens, a flash light, but no list. Maybe I left it on the kitchen table. So I gathered everything up, got back in my car, and went home.

No list.

I went back to my car to look some more. That’s when I remembered the flutter against my foot in the restaurant. The list had likely fallen on the floor of the diner, having long since been swept away and discarded.

By now you are thinking that this is pretty strange behavior, unless of course you are also a true list maker. This is one area where I admit to being inflexible. I just can’t shop without a list! A few months ago almost the same thing happened, but this time I had started my shopping and dropped the list somewhere in the store. I retraced my steps through the produce section but never found the list. That time, I finished my shopping…anxiously.

The silver lining in all of this is that it gave me an idea for a picture book manuscript. My character, Rabbit, is a lot like me…and a lot like the person I would like to be. I could learn from her!