THE ORGANIZER

365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 248

Today I’m gonna do something I’m not sure I’ve done before; I’m gonna brag on a friend and co-worker.

Now, truthfully, I have a couple of colleagues I could brag on endlessly. Both are great at what they do and absolute joys to work with. Both ladies have a quick wit, a good sense of humor, humble character, and just have an all-around grounded life. Small-town living helps with that. Moreover, both are highly organized and seemingly refuse to coexist with either chaos or clutter. Great traits, IMHO.

Well… this morning, “the organizer” took it up a notch.

Intro: as I do every Sunday through Thursday, I walk through the front doors of the church, mindlessly unlock the office area, flip on the lights, and saunter through to my office, barely noticing my surroundings until the caffeine actually kicks in. This morning, though, HOLY COW. It’s almost as though I walked into a different space, and my bleary eyes instantaneously noticed.

Now, since I came aboard a couple of years ago, the office has boasted piles of clutter that have been meticulously building up for the last few decades. A phone book here, rogue folders there, this, that, and the other thing… it just kind of accumulated the way stuff does when everyone is playing a high-stakes game of "not my problem." Even the fax machine sat there and collected dust—ironically plugged in with a usable line until just a few weeks ago. Seriously, does anyone actually rock the fax anymore, or were we just keeping a direct line open to 1998? Asking for a friend.

Anyway, atop the five file cabinets: folders, ancient software manuals, one of those stackable plastic folder organizer trays, phone books from when people still used phone books, and other assorted junk. The Fax cabinet: the old heavy beast itself, surrounded by crap that hadn’t been touched since Aunt Ginny drove her covered wagon across the Great Plains. Then there was this: a homemade laptop “lap” desk—I found it in my office while decluttering some time ago, and seemingly without paying attention, just moved it from my space to another.

Okay, okay, okay; I know, I hear you. I did what all spouses accuse each other of doing: moving clutter from one place to another. But in my defense, I’ve found that throwing out “stuff” without permission is akin to a death sentence. Heaven forbid I toss those old magazines my wife hasn’t read since Martha Stewart was doing time. There might be a recipe in there she’s gonna “save,” ya know. Sorry, perhaps I need to go to therapy. Hahaha!

Mostly, I was just being lazy on whatever day that was. When I arrived, there was lots of “crap” in my office I didn’t want in there. I wanted to make it my own space, ya know? So, doing what any thoroughly trained spouse does, I simply relocated it. ANYWAY, that homemade thingy was hanging around too. And ALL OF IT had just become a massive eyesore. Apparently, Jennifer couldn’t take it anymore.

Well, when I walked into the office this morning, all that clutter was nowhere to be found—like, Capital G-O-N-E gone. The office looked clean, clutter-free, and beautiful. Now, Jennifer’s been cleaning it up a bit here and there lately. And me? I’d thought the place needed a bit of artwork on the walls. So, I bought three large country-style frames to mat some of my landscape photos, and yesterday I finally hung those bad boys up. Well, with my photos hanging and Jennifer’s dumpster-organizing crusade, the office hallway area is actually looking nice; and for all that, I’m uber-thankful.

Today, I’m giving my coworker a standing ovation. She deserves it for doing what absolutely no one over the last decade was willing to do. THANK YOU.

Now... we just need a “dump your electronics day” to declutter Stacy’s office area from the 500 lbs of ancient office electronics that are as old as the Gateway Cow (which, let's be honest, croaked at least two decades ago).

Anywho, when you see our office manager around town (or in church), give her a high-five. Today, “the organizer” is my absolute hero for making our office all purty-like. Bravo, Jennifer. Bravo!

Who and what are you thankful for today?