The other day CJ and I were at the playground, when I saw a rather disturbing thing.
A mother, with her 2-year old son, sitting hunched over on the bark. I didn’t really notice her at first, figuring they were eating, or talking, or changing a diaper…
It wasn’t until 10 minutes later that I actually SAW what she was doing.
Next to her sat a little pile of neatly stacked buckets, shovels, and other sand toys. One by one, she methodically cleaned each one of EVERY SINGLE GRAIN OF SAND. It was a rigorous process, the likes of which I’d never seen before.
First, she turned the bucket upside down, tap-tap-tapping on the bottom to release the loose dirt. Then, she took a piece of bark and thoroughly scraped the inside and outside to remove the stuff that remained. Then she carefully stacked it in the ‘clean’ pile, and reached for the next offender.
I don’t really know how long she was at it, except that it was a LONG time.
I was tempted to run over, tear the bucket from her hand, and shout, “IT’S OK!! LEAVE the dirt ON!! It won’t kill you, I promise.”
I’m sure her car is clean and all, but at what cost?! A person’s gotta live, after all.
It reminds me of a book that I just started, but that I KNOW I’m going to love. A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder–How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
I wish I’d had my book with me so that I could give it to that poor woman. Maybe this is my new mission in life? I’ll be like a Johnny Appleseed of messiness, an evangelist of disorder… spreading the word that IT’S OK TO BE MESSY. HEAR YE! HEAR YE! I shout from the rooftops, DIRT WILL NOT KILL YOU.
Don’t believe me? Just stop by my house. We’re thriving over here.
***
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xo Jen
May 5, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Here I thought I had some issues, man nowhere near like that poor woman.
May 5, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Yes, but can she clean sand out of a 4 year old butt crack like I can?
I wonder if she has obsessive-compulsive disorder or something?
May 6, 2007 at 2:26 am
I want that book.
Like…now.
May 6, 2007 at 7:51 am
Hahaha. Yeah, we’re thriving at my house too. I like to say that my house is such a mess ALL. THE. TIME because I’m trying to be healthy and keep everyone sane and build antibodies and stuff. I think, however, that it’s just possible that I’m kinda lazy… Maybe. But I’d really rather by LAZY than be the lady you described above.
May 6, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Orson Scott Card has an interesting sci-fi book in which a planet of people think that OCD sufferers are talking to the gods.. Xenocide. Interesting set of books.
May 6, 2007 at 6:45 pm
wow! that’s like my mother in law! she’s totally appauled at my house. one day the kids were eating cookies in her kitchen and she was standing around with a hand vacuum, just waiting to clean up the crumbs!!!!!
May 7, 2007 at 3:34 am
Probably a new mum… Well, just imagine how picky she must be at home !!!
Do you think she has her kid eat over a sink to avoid crumbs ???
May 7, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I’ll bet she’s got a vat of purell in her purse, too!