It’s always covered with layer upon layer of random papers—the buildup from many dumpings of bills and notices culled from the monster weekly pile of incoming mail...scraps emptied from my purse and pockets... clusters moved hastily to clear surfaces when company is coming. Things I have to sort through and deal with. Bills to be paid. Questions to be researched. Papers to be filed. All on top of each other.
This Sunday* I just had to tackle my desk—actually, it’s a
card table adjacent to my computer desk. We’re about to travel back east for
Dave’s 50th high school reunion, an excuse to take an extended tour through New
Jersey, New York, Maine, and New Hampshire. I can’t leave with bills needing to
be paid and things needing to be done.
I love the idea of clearing the decks, getting things
squared away. I’m the kind of person who detests clutter and craves
organization. Somehow that is never reflected in the contents of my desktop. In
random order, I pull out a request to donate to help the hungry, a statement of
my retirement account needing to be filed, a stern notice that my drug
insurance will be terminated if they don’t receive payment by the day before
yesterday, a scrap of paper on which I scribbled the titles of two books my
sister recommended, a flyer about a symposium that I need to post on my
nonprofit organization’s website, a MasterCard bill from last July (paid?
unpaid? who knows?)—you get the picture: chaos reigns.
I spent the bulk of this sunny Sunday getting to the bottom
of the pile. Painful, and a waste of a lovely day, but I’m pleased to have
averted the shutoff of water to our home, transferred the computer passwords captured
on sundry scraps to my day planner, found the missing debit card that I use to
pay for groceries.
And cleared a nice space on my desk for the next pile of
papers.
*This post was actually written in September 2012. I just unearthed it from my computer desktop, which has its own problems.
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