The Notemaker

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The Notemaker

I have told you before

that I am a note maker

 a list writer

It is a trait

that I have inherited 

from my Father

His house, his shelves

cupboards, sheds, 

his car, writing room

and pockets

are full of notes and lists

all written in capitalized font

in an odd left handed 

and backwards sloping script

Lists of seedlings to buy

of bills to pay

of accounts falling due

of flowers to plant

typing to correct

of vegetable planting rows

of editing to complete

in the stories he wrote

of insurance policies and investments

bank accounts and secrets

As he got older

he began to copy the lists

marking the old lists 'obsolete'

but never destroying them

Then he made lists of lists

and lists of lists of lists
and bound them together in bundles
with rubber bands

One list I found was headed

'Jock's Important Concerns'

and indicated a secret place

where more lists could be found

My Mother and I laughed 

as we rushed around the house

like we were playing detectives...

When I was a child

the lists were written 

on dirt and grease stained used index cards

purloined from his work place

After retirement 

they began to be written 

on old envelopes

of which he accumulated 

an enormous stash

When looking through the pockets

of jackets returned from the nursing home

where he had spent 

the last year of his life

I came across many notes and lists;

I found numerous notes 

detailing the neighbour's

address and phone number

in case my Father should forget 

where he was heading 

on his many escapes 

from the nursing home

and needed to be rescued

In one pocket I found a list

of his three daughters 

with their names written out in full

sadly dementia was beginning to rob him

of his memory of things
that were most important to him

One of the oddest lists I found

was of the serial numbers 

of his three wheelie garbage bins,

Red for rubbish

Yellow for recyclables

and Green for green waste

Did he worry that the local students

might steal his bins
and if so

was he going to track them down...

quite probably...

I must warn my kids

of my list making tendencies

and prepare them for my dotage

If I am at all like my father

in this respect
and there is increasing evidence
of this proclivity

I will have filled every nook and cranny

of the house with notes and lists...

I must write a note now

to tell my kids of this...

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