Almost exactly three weeks ago, I received the gift of One Year To An Organized Life from the author herself, Regina Leeds. While the first couple weeks under Regina's plan are slated for insight-building journal exercises, I couldn't help myself: I was so excited and so motivated, that I threw myself into an organizing frenzy. I had the following day off and spent three and a half hours on the living room alone. "Clearing" is the word I use for this part of my Organization Quest. It involves coming to terms with the various piles and homeless items to which I'd turned a blind eye, sometimes for weeks, more often for months, and in some cases for years. I'd gotten so accustomed to the half dozen, 2-foot high stacks of magazines I'd used in my design classes in the past couple of years, for instance, that I actually stopped seeing them, or more precisely: I stopped seeing them as an unsightly mess.
If I was surprised to spend over three hours working on the living room when I'd planned on spending a fraction of the time, I was perhaps even more surprised to see just how airy and inviting the room was, once I'd cleaned it up and cleared the clutter.
Thus motivated, I spent a good five hours clearing the bedroom later that weekend and spilling over to the next, while also working to maintain the progress recently gained in the kitchen and my study. The last weekend in September, I finally realized the goal that I first set for myself when I started my Organization Quest in July: for the first time in my adult life, every room in the house was clean, neat, tidy, and orderly. No sliding stacks of magazines. No boxes of papers. No piles of clothes. Tables clear. Chairs clear. Nothing to step over on the floor.
That was two weekends ago. This past weekend, in celebration and as a treat, I did something that I hadn't done in a very long while: I devoted a whole day to just having fun. Alpay and I walked to a little Ethiopian restaurant nearby, and then strolled up and down the street, antiquing and ducking into places we'd normally never go, like a bookstore devoted entirely to comics.
In one of the antique stores, we saw the most amazing chest of drawers dating from the 1930's: A Rockford Republic Furniture Company beauty with the original hardware. Beaded molding. Burled mahogany veneer. Years ago when we got our bed, a burled mahogany king-sized sleigh, I could never commit to the matching chest of drawers, which seemed both too big and too matchy-matchy--and much too expensive--for my taste. Here at the antique store for a fraction of the price was a perfectly proportioned piece that would fit beautifully with the bed without matching it exactly. It was perfect.
It was delivered today. It's a reward for having completed the labor-intensive, time-consuming process of clearing, cleaning, and provisionally organizing every room in the house. Yes, there are still boxes stashed in various closets that need to be dealt with. Yes, I still have all those items left to do on my Dread List. And maintenance continues to be a challenge. But for right now, I'm just really enjoying our place and that, I think, is the biggest gift of all.
