Are you a list maker? I make them all the time and I especially benefit from a “to do” list. It’s a good way to gather scattered thoughts and stay focused a bit better, a guide of sorts.

Lists also relieve a busy mind from the task of remembering things that could possibly be forgotten. Even if I vary from a list I have written, I feel more productive simply by the mere fact that I took time to write down what I had hoped to get accomplished. It shows goodintentions.

The feeling only gets better as I check things off as they are completed. There’s some sort of psychological benefit to that. I sometimes put “write a list” at the top of the list so that automatically I can mark an item off before I do anything else. That’s a joke; I don’t really do that.

Then there’s the grocery list. I still scribble those on whatever is handy, often on the back of a used envelope. This is old fashioned, of course, as most people these days probably make lists on their smart phones or some other electronic device. It still feels more natural for me to hand write lists. There seems to be a circuit between my brain and pencil-holding hand that helps me think of things.

Speaking of shopping lists, don’t you just cringe for people when you find an abandoned list lying on a shelf at the store? You know that somebody somewhere is frantically trying to recall all the things they wrote down that morning. You have to feel for them.

I saw a book once that consisted of a compilation of abandoned shopping lists that someone had collected. It was pretty entertaining, not to mention, revealing. According to the book, the lists we write and how we write them tell a lot about us. For instance, some folks are neat and organized list writers while others scribble haphazardly. Some parents dictate lists and have kids write them down, which offers perfect opportunities for the younger one to add their own postscripts. Some words, such as mayonnaise, are, in general, difficult to spell.

Yet another kind of list is the “bucket list.” Just as the name implies, a bucket list is made up of the things a person wants to do or accomplish before they “kick the bucket.”

The good thing about making this kind of list is that the sky is the limit. All you have to do is dream of what you want to do, not how you are going to do it. It is fun to engage the imagination and think of what you’d like to do if time and money were no object.

Events this week made me give thought to bucket lists, not because I have any reason to think I might kick the bucket soon, but because I spent a few days hauling an empty five-gallon bucket around in the cargo space of my vehicle. The bucket was one piece of a simple opportunity to contribute to the Oklahoma tornado cleanup efforts.

My church offered empty five-gallon buckets that could be taken one week, filled with needed items using the list found inside, and then returned the next week.

However, when I removed the snap-on lid, my bucket’s list was missing. Without the list, the bucket didn’t do much good. It simply took up space, rattled whenever I hit bumps in the road, and eventually fell over and began to roll quite noisily from side to side as I rounded corners. I was glad to finally get my hands on a copy of the list so I could fill the bucket and return it to the church.

This week I realized I am something like that empty five-gallon bucket I carried around in my vehicle all week. I don’t rattle and roll around aimlessly quite so much when I have a list.

Annette Rowe is a freelance writer from rural Gentry and a speech-language pathologistat Siloam Springs High School. She may be reached by email at awalkinthepark50@ yahoo.com.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 06/05/2013