The List

It was a busy Saturday in Bermuda.  Today was the annual "End to End," when cyclists, joggers, walkers, and now paddleboarders pledge to make their way from one end of the country to another for charity via their favorite mode of calorie burning.  Congratulations to my friends who completed it -- you know who you are, and since a few coworkers seem really worried about ending up in the blog ( and you know who you are missy), they shall remain nameless as I have not asked if they would mind being mentioned.  As for me, it was another sad Saturday spent locked indoors at work.

The best perk about work is the coworkers.  On this particular day, I was working with Sue.  Now, I didn't ask Sue if I could mention her, but anyone who reads this will know it's her anyways so just going to go ahead and do it.  Sue is a coworker, a friend, and the mom of some fully grown children.  Sometimes the motherly instincts take over and she has an overwhelming desire to turn down the collar of my lab coat, which I throw on haphazardly and usually half the collar sticks up while the other half is turned down.  To be fair, most lab techs have a certain amount of OCD and requirement for order, so I could be mistaking intrinsic lab tech quirks for maternal instincts.  It's tough to say.

So this past week, while the blog has again run silent, I have been running around frazzled and overwhelmed from one thing to the next and in desperate need of a day off to sort things out.  The stunned expression I have been wearing and the general lack of coordination I demonstrated when I knocked my forehead on a shelf inside the incubator when reaching in for plates this morning prompted Sue into action.  I don't know if it was the friend instinct, or the mothering instinct, but at coffee break Sue zipped down the road and got a big and delicious cup of coffee for us both from Buzz, and a muffin.  She sat me down in the break room with a piece of paper and 2 different colored pens.  That's another lab tech thing -- the need to organize is strong, and colored pens are a critical part of the coding process.  In this case, the random organizational challenge of the moment was my life.

So with a lot of strong coffee and about 15 minutes, the action list of all I need to do to prepare for leaving Bermuda, complete with a timeline, was laid out in 2 colors on one side of the paper.  The flip side was the action list and timeline of everything that has to be done once I leave.  Complete with instructions to not forget it in my pocket and throw the list in the wash.

Thank you Sue...the world feels a little more manageable now that I have my list.  You're a good friend/lab tech/mom.