A week and a half ago, as Bill and I were traveling to Minneapolis for the beginning of the final stint of the tour, we knew that we would have the better part of two weeks at home. So we made a list on his iPad.

I understood that once we arrived home a set of corrections (My editor calls them edits, but they’re really corrections!) on the next Joanna Brady book, Downfall, would be waiting for me. And they were. I was a little fuzzy on what stage of the editing process this was supposed to be, so I sent my editor a message asking for clarification: Was I supposed to do the edits in hard copy, on the manuscript itself, or were they supposed to go into the electronic file? The clarification that came wasn’t exactly clear, so I did the work by hand on the paper manuscript. It took from Tuesday morning until Sunday evening to finish the job. In the meantime Bill, Tinus, and I started knocking things off our list, making appointments for everything from physicals to window repairs.

With Bill and Tinus setting appointments I worked on the corrections. My plan was to have all of the edits installed by Sunday so they could go to New York on Monday morning. By Monday the manuscript was inside a FedEx envelope ready to go when an e-mail arrived from my editor. Having just gotten back into the office, from a conference, she told me the bad news—she needed them in the electronic file not on paper. Fortunately there were no little ears around right about then.

Inputting the corrections took all day on Monday and Tuesday, days which were supposed to be devoted to working on the list. On Tuesday morning, I worked on the manuscript in the doctor’s waiting room while Bill was having his physical. I sent the file to New York at 8:31 PM on Tuesday. (My steps that day? 1,430!! When I say I worked on the corrections all day long, I mean it.)

As for the rest of the list? Vision tests? Done. New prescription glasses? Done and, as of today, delivered. Annual Physicals? Done. (Unlike last year, the doctor gave both of us gold stars!) Dentist appointment for completing Bill’s new crown? Done. Dental appointment for Bella? Scheduled but can’t be done until early June. (Evidently doggy dentists are thin on the ground around here.)

It wasn’t just us in need of maintenance. Houses and cars needed attention as well: The circulating pump needed fixing and there was a leak in the house next door. Both on the list, both fixed. The pilot in the family room gas log fireplace has gone out. Fixing that is scheduled. Some of the dual-paned windows had popped their seals. The guy has come by and measured. Windows will be installed at a later date, and the window washer will follow that. Carpet cleaning? Scheduled but not done. Bill wanted hanging baskets for me for Mother’s Day. (They’re filled with perennials and they are GORGEOUS!) The old grill needed to be hauled out of the gazebo to make way for the one that’s coming for Bill for Father’s Day.) Old one is out. New one arrives on Tuesday. The outside tables had to be de-mossified; ditto the patio and steps. Done and done.

Also on the list were making decisions about the upcoming book tour in September; the purchase of a new jet card; and a new car. The tour is coming into focus. The other two are done and done. The jet card is with Delta, and the car is a Lincoln MKX—ruby red, by the way.

So last night, as I was walking (10,618 steps!) I was ticking off what we’d accomplished. I guess we need to make to-do lists more often. But then I realized how that all happened. What made it work was having all three of us working the problem.

That’s when I started thinking about this coming weekend which happens to include Mother’s Day, and that made me think about what mothers do which is to say pretty much everything: Keep their kids fed and dressed? Yes. Get kids to doctors appointments and school? Check. Show up for teacher conferences? Yes. Get kids to sports practices and events? Check. If the kid joins band? Moms need to oversee at home practice and get kids to bad and to band concerts. Do the laundry? Check. Keep the car running and take it in for maintenance? Yes. Drag the garbage out to the curb? Yup. Make sure the lawn gets mowed? The do all of that and everything else, too, often while working “outside the home” as well.

If the mother happens to have a husband/partner to juggle some of these issues, good for her. But if she happens to be a single mom? In that case it’s all on her—every single bit of it.

Yes, Bill and Tinus and I accomplished lots of stuff this week, but it took three of us to make it happen. Here’s a shout out to all the Mom out there who don’t have that many hands or even ANY other hands to help out in doing what needs to be done.

Happy Mothers Day, ladies. You are my heroes!!

All of you.