Today is Matthew's 6th birthday. Today I also read Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven. (Which was a pretty good read—nice narrative flow, beautiful picture of the life of an ordinary guy and the way his life touched and was touched by other people's. I didn't see it as any kind of an allegory, but then, I'm a literal reader that way. Not much for the subtext.)
At any rate, the combination of the two leads me to the following: If the first person I meet in Heaven isn't my baby, God better have a good explanation.
Happy birthday, Matthew. As always, I wish for just one picture of my four kids all together, the way it ought to be. And one more moment to hold you.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Thursday, February 01, 2007
chaos and clutter
I consider myself an orderly person. I like things just so, I like things to have homes and be put away, I love to do things in complex patterns. My home reflects ... none of that. And I can't even blame it on husband/children, because my desk—my own personal space—is close to being the worst offender in the house!
A while back, one of my mothers' groups talked about clutter, and I realized my basic problem falls into the category of long-term clutter. Anything that needs to be mended; worked on; recycled or otherwise given away profitably (my profit or someone else's); or saved for future use. I'm just not good at it. And I'm torn between wanting to declutter and wanting to not produce waste—of money as much as of resources. So a lot of things wind up in stacks lying around. Books that I'm waiting to take to the used bookstore; clothes that I'm waiting to donate until I have enough; random things here and there that I know will be useful someday but that have no home right now.
A talk today at another mothers' group inspired me to take another look at the clutter in my life (the clutter that is my life?). It's time to stop having stacks lying around waiting for me to get to them, and to take a much harder line on simply getting things out of the house. Part of that means developing a much greater awareness of my own limitations. For example, any mending that goes beyond sewing on a button might as well be given away, because I'm just not going to get to it in anything approaching a timely fashion. Another part is learning to stop letting the stacks accumulate. Once I have one thing in the "give-away" box, I might as well call my favorite charity for a pick-up at once and then go around and pick up anything else that might need to go, instead of waiting for the box to collect enough things to be "worth" the call. And, finally, I have to learn to be more ruthless when it comes to throwing things away. If no one wants a half-finished book of really poor crossword puzzles, why keep it?
I am inspired to declutter my house. Partially because of the talk this morning, and partially because my sons have spent two consecutive afternoons in the basement and have yet to pick up a single toy. Clearly a) they have too many toys, b) they have no idea how to start picking things up because I haven't taught them to, and c) they need a better organizational system down there to help them learn to keep things tidy. All these things I can remedy.
So tonight, I start with the basement. Wish me luck!
A while back, one of my mothers' groups talked about clutter, and I realized my basic problem falls into the category of long-term clutter. Anything that needs to be mended; worked on; recycled or otherwise given away profitably (my profit or someone else's); or saved for future use. I'm just not good at it. And I'm torn between wanting to declutter and wanting to not produce waste—of money as much as of resources. So a lot of things wind up in stacks lying around. Books that I'm waiting to take to the used bookstore; clothes that I'm waiting to donate until I have enough; random things here and there that I know will be useful someday but that have no home right now.
A talk today at another mothers' group inspired me to take another look at the clutter in my life (the clutter that is my life?). It's time to stop having stacks lying around waiting for me to get to them, and to take a much harder line on simply getting things out of the house. Part of that means developing a much greater awareness of my own limitations. For example, any mending that goes beyond sewing on a button might as well be given away, because I'm just not going to get to it in anything approaching a timely fashion. Another part is learning to stop letting the stacks accumulate. Once I have one thing in the "give-away" box, I might as well call my favorite charity for a pick-up at once and then go around and pick up anything else that might need to go, instead of waiting for the box to collect enough things to be "worth" the call. And, finally, I have to learn to be more ruthless when it comes to throwing things away. If no one wants a half-finished book of really poor crossword puzzles, why keep it?
I am inspired to declutter my house. Partially because of the talk this morning, and partially because my sons have spent two consecutive afternoons in the basement and have yet to pick up a single toy. Clearly a) they have too many toys, b) they have no idea how to start picking things up because I haven't taught them to, and c) they need a better organizational system down there to help them learn to keep things tidy. All these things I can remedy.
So tonight, I start with the basement. Wish me luck!
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