Day 17 - Organized or Messy

Day 17

 I pondered about a nanosecond on this one. By nature, I am very messy. Pretty much, the only time my mom and I got crosswise when I was growing up was when she had had it with my messy ways. Even after I was married with children she commented, standing in the midst of the chaos I called home, "decent people don't live like this!"  By that point in my life, thanks partly to her upbringing, I Had the confidence to reply, "yes, yes they do. We are very decent people." But, in all honesty, we excelled as slobs. Mr. L actually came into this marriage somewhat neat, but he crossed over with me to the dark side, although he has never been as proficient at messiness as I.

I can be organized in some areas. Generally speaking, I keep my business in some semblance of order. There have been some failings there. For instance, the day I double booked and left a group stranded with no guide (thank heaven for professional, good-natured teachers full of grace), or the day I sent 120 or so to lunch at The Spaghetti Factory with no reservations. Those kinds of mistakes make one become more vigilant.

My lack of organization is the reason I have on numerous occasions told different people different times for the same meal at my house, or why I have set too many or not enough plates at the table, or why I am occasionally surprised at who shows up. I am forever looking for my keys and my glasses and my phone and the iPad. It is why when I cleaned out my spice cabinet a couple months ago, I had bottles with "best if used by 2007" on them. I often have marvelous science experiments in my refrigerator as I try to guess just "what that was when it was fresh."  Many loads of clothes get multiple washings because I cannot remember to put them in the drier.

Now, that it is just Mr. L and me living in the house, we are a bit neater. The computer desk is usually covered in detritus of some previous flurry of activity. Stuff is pretty much hanging off every section of the craft carts in Frisby Hall. Sometimes the den looks like our shoe closet, but all in all, we live more "decently" than we once did. I have learned that, as in most things in life, my undesirable messiness is the negative flip side of, perhaps, some more positive trait.

Day 17 - Organized or Messy - check