A Matter of Organization

     There are several boxes on a shelf in our ‘back forty’ that are neatly labeled, in my handwriting, “To Be Sorted.”  They are there because I am genetically cross-wired.  On the one hand I have a desire to be totally organized; on the other, I cannot throw anything away, especially paper goods.  So when these in-born proclivities clash, I tend to gather up all the things I can’t figure out where to file and stick them in a box for later.
     Yesterday, I bravely opened one of those boxes to take a look. It contained mostly stuff from 2006 – correspondence, newsletters, a few receipts – but there were other treasures, as well.  There were photographs, some going back clear to 1915.  There was a recipe I’ve been hunting for for ages – well, for four years at least.  There was a notation about the apple trees we had purchased that spring and I now know that in addition to “William’s Pride” we have “Rajka Rezista.”   With a name like that, no wonder I had forgotten.
     I also found a few treasures I had kept from my teaching days of long ago – far enough back that I was still ‘Mrs. LaRue’ which would have been before 1987.  One was a pre-printed document filled out by Sarah Anderson (Taylor) that says:  “FOR MY HERO  This is to certify that Mrs. La Rue has fulfilled my requirements for a hero by just being a speshl teacher.  Given this last day of agist 27, 1985.  Sarah Christine Anderson.”  I love it!  I think I’ll have it framed.
     Another keeper is a carefully written (in manuscript, not cursive), three and a half page essay called “Some Things Are Scary.”  It says “To LaRue.  Love, Marcia D.”  I’m not sure now who Marcia D. was or why I kept her work.    Perhaps I wondered if it was Marcia’s own or perhaps I just liked it.  In actuality it is a copy of a book by that name written by Florence Parry Heide and illustrated by Jules Feiffer.  A few of my favorites are Stepping down from something that is higher than you thought it was is scary.  Holding onto someone’s hand that isn’t your mother’s when you thought it was is scary. Thinking you’re not going to get picked for either side is scary.”  Good choice of books to copy from, Marcia! And thanks for sharing.
     But what is scary to me right now is what to do with all of these rediscovered treasures.  The temptation is to return them to the box and wait another four or five years to decide. It probably depends upon the strength of yet another set of genes – the ones dealing with determination and procrastination…