Last night before bed there were dishes on the counter. The dishwasher was full and running the kitchen had just been completely cleaned except for these few irritating dishes.
These dirty misfits that wouldn't fit in.
These filthy, crusty leftovers that showed up late and were forgotten about, essentially unwanted they ruined a perfectly tidy countertop.
What was once clean had become a mess.
I went to work.
No, I didn't wash them by hand. Nor did I stop the dishwasher from running and attempt to cram them in.
I went to work organizing the mess. Big plates on the bottom, smaller things on top. Smaller Tupperware containers inside bigger Tupperware containers with lids left on top, loose so that people would know that there was something there.
I placed all the cutlery side by side facing the same direction with the dirty parts pointing away.
Tall things were placed at the back of the counter.
I looked at it when I was finished and I thought wow that's a well organized mess. We do this sometimes. We ignore the big dirty parts of a mess and just try to organize the chaos. We tidy it up without actually getting rid of the filth.
Sure it's taking up less space. And yes, it's easier to manage. But really, it's still a mess that I'm going to have to come back to and deal with.
So what do you do when there's a mess in your life? You try to get it organized, set up and structured before you tackle your issues? Or you just kind of leave them as they are, content with well organized filth?
It's like the old saying goes:
The secret ingredient is elbow grease.
All of the above.
It's March Break, so I am taking a step back from work and focusing on my personal chaos. In an area where I have significant expertise, I have postponed work, like a master carpenter carefully considering all my joinery options before building a chest. I have recently decided on the methodology and threw my hat over the fence by promising a portion of this to others. I worked diligently on that yesterday as I played VHS movies at the only place a reasonable person would play VHS movies. If I have expertise, I delay, strategize and plan. Other things, like dishes and cleaning the fridge, they get done, but perfection is not my desire on a day to day basis; functionality is. The March Break Wednesday is fridge day. It will be emptied; fully emptied and every inch scrubbed and contents examined like CSI Refrigerator ...if it were a show. My son will likely join in. I do it for a fresh start. He does it to fridge shame me. Either way, we get it done and both get what we want out of the experience.
When cleaning up our messes, whether the strategic plan executed over years, the big event, or tidying the deck chairs on our boat, hoping the side doesn't say SS Titanic, the point is to make progress.
The rest is just style.