Contemplating the To Do list

Are we defined by our tasks…or rather, by the ones we manage to complete successfully?
At this time of year it can be a challenge to feel blessed when you so often feel burdened. With all there is to do, I find I have to keep reminding myself that I’m going to all this effort to make it a good Christmas for my parents and children in particular.
I also think about Helga. Helga was a former neighbor who had an immaculate home—so immaculate that she and her family lived in the basement so the first floor would remain pristine at all times.
One day I was walking by Helga’s house and noticed her in spike heels and a tight skirt crouched in her driveway. She had a measuring tape and seemed to be writing things down in a notebook. Curious, I stopped to say hello and find out what she was up to. She told me that she had assigned her husband the task of planting her geraniums eight inches apart in the flowerbed beside the driveway, and she was mad as a hornet because the job wasn’t up to her standards.
Every time I’m tempted to feel annoyed at myself for not doing things perfectly, I think about how tough it must have been to be Helga. Eventually she left her husband, and he’s now married to a woman who wears sweat pants and lets him put his feet up on the coffee table.