The Natural and the Disaster

I would like to say one thing about myself.  I am thorough….sometimes.  While this is often a virtue, I think I have taken it too far and have thus stamped over the ‘rtu’ with a big, fat ‘c’.

One of the things I am most thorough about is packing and unpacking.  My mom has commented that whenever I pack, I take up the entire house.  I start by taking everything out, putting a little bit here and a little bit there.  Next, I start to sort what needs to be kept and what doesn’t need to be kept.  In doing this, I will go through every notebook and journal and take out unnecessary pages, little frillies included.  I create several ‘trash’ piles, several ‘donate’ piles, and several ‘organized’ piles.  After the sorting, I can begin to organize everything in boxes or containers.  Usually things are packed several times before I find the perfect combination.  My desire to organize by space and my desire to organize by category have a royal battle and I never know which one will win.  Often I let things stew for a while until I know what I want to do and sometimes it has to stew for several days.  It really shouldn't be a surprise that when I finally get down to the last few items, I am out of time and therefore end up throwing everything together into whatever I can find.  I make a mess, I take forever, and the product really isn’t that great in the end.

In the last few weeks I have discovered I unpack in a similar way.  I take out several items and spread them all over the house.  Next, I begin re-sorting everything.  This time I have ‘trash’ piles, ‘donate’ piles (even though I just did this), ‘bedroom’ piles, ‘bathroom’ piles, ‘office’ piles, and any other kind of pile you can think of.  After the sorting, I begin trying to fit everything into the room, the desk, the drawer, etc. that it belongs in.  This rarely works the first time and the second isn’t much better.  Then, I have to figure out what goes into storage.  Each item has to be processed through several questions such as:

1.      Does this need to be in storage?

2.      How accessible does it need to be?

3.      What other items are similar to it?

4.      Where should it be stored?

5.      How often will I get it out?

Once these things are organized and put away, I am finally done!  Whew!  Did I mention if I find a favorite toy in this process it needs to be played with?  Did I mention I often re-read old journals as I go through this process?  Did I mention that I re-look at nearly every photograph I come across?  Now instead of asking yourself, "Why aren't they done moving in yet?" you are asking, “How can they already be done?”

If you are, I will tell you how.  I HAVE AN AMAZING WIFE!  While I am busy making a mess, she is busy cleaning it up.  While I am busy playing with toys, she is decorating our home.  While I am reminiscing as I look over old journals, she is talking to me and making lunch.  While I am re-organizing for the fifth time, she growing a babyJ.  While I am making a DISASTER, she is making a home.  I have the most wonderful wife and I am so grateful she is strong in so many areas where I am weak.  I am glad that she is a NATURAL homemaker.

We have also lived through two recent natural disasters.  Not too much to report on the earthquake or the hurricane other than we experienced them and are grateful we weren’t more heavily affected by either one.