or-ga-ni-za-tion

Remember the organized closet at the end of the book The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room?  As a child I loved to look at the picture of that closet on the last page- all those stacks of boxes organized and labeled: SCISSORS, MARKERS, CARS, DOLLS- because it was simultaneously amazing and completely unrealistic.  Maybe it was amazing because it was so elusive.  Even as I child, I knew it would never work.  In no way is that level of organization sustainable for my being.

So because it seemed impossible, I tried it with the boys.

It worked really well for two days.  I know as of this moment, the boxes of trains are in the living room, tools are in my closet, the construction toys are in Rush’s closet, but dumped out of their box.  Half of the matchbox cars are lined up on a windowsill, the other half are in the bottom of two or three of my purses.  There is a plastic box in Tate’s room filled with napkin rings and a pencil and I know I didn’t label that one.

I probably should have given up before I finished, because as I was sitting in Rush’s closet with a Sharpie, sorting the matchbox cars from the astronauts, all the books were being swept off the shelf in one massive swoop.  Four little arms can be extremely effective.  If you’re seeking a meditation on futility, try to clean something with two children in your proximity.

I just needed things to be clean and organized for 5 minutes.  At least now I know that every little thing has a spot so theoretically every little thing can find its way back.

And on the days when nothing makes it back into the labeled boxes, we’ll just push it all into the closet and shut the door.  That was probably why the Berenstain bears kept their boxes in the closet anyway.