Treading Water

Have you ever felt like you’re treading water? With a sea of endless tasks and unpleasant jobs churning and swelling around your ankles, knees, and working towards your chest, do you feel you’ll be pulled into the undertow at any second? Do you find yourself searching for any distraction beyond the task-at-hand? Good, now I know you understand my man.

I on the other hand am a planner, the sort who develops three different plans, encompassing every possible alternative when faced with a complicated problem.

We’re facing one of those right now, as we’re in the process of purchasing a house. Strategizer that I am, there are assorted floor plans, paint chips, wallpaper and carpet samples and swatches of fabrics piling up on the desk around me. I sense that somewhere out there beyond my fortress of imagination, my husband is laughing, just a little, at me. I’ve asked him repeatedly for input, “what do you think of….” and so on, but he always answers the same way “what ever you want babe”.

That’s okay, because he’s not one to criticize decisions later on or tell me why things should have been different. And to tell the truth, I don’t really mind getting to decide between Green Apple and Lightly Lime for our kitchen walls. And it’s okay that he doesn’t care if we use the light, middle or dark shade of Mushroom for the bedroom walls.

He’ll even paint and do the heavy work. He just doesn’t like the preparation. As I'm trying to enlist his help in wading through 30 plus years of memories, schoolbooks and plastic ware, I’m noticing that my husband doesn’t like to pack. As we started on his computer room last week, I found myself wondering if we’ll ever effectively contain all the squiggly plastic coated wires in their rainbow of colors. He simply said “don’t worry, it will get done”. All I want is to know that on moving day, when the only-show-in-town backs up to our front door and I open the computer room door, there will be neatly stacked boxes and order will have prevailed. What do you think my chances are?
I know – slim and none.

It’s a wonder how making order from chaos is such a nightmare for some, yet comes so naturally to others. Mother Nature is a master at this trick. As we survey our surroundings, many of us feel dismal and tired of looking at the dirty, brown and grey remains of winter.

It’s no surprise we have such an exodus from our mountains at this time of year. We went on vacation just a little too early one year, and returned disheartened to see our world flooded and muddy, with no hints of spring flowers from all the @(*$&#* showers. Nevertheless, know that beyond this mess, a plan is taking shape.

Look closely and you’ll see the pattern emerge. Tulips and daffodils give rise to lilac scented breezes, jackets are put away and laundry is put out to dry in the crisp wind. Children come out to play and their laughter travels through open windows, awakening our senses long dulled by the winter.

So, as spring wonders prevail, we will continue to attempt to organize the chaos at our house. Wrapping and packing each item carefully, resting it in its temporary cardboard home until it’s time to move in down the road and up the hill. In our new house with all the windows, I’ll happily plan and execute the spring-cleaning, as flowers reveal their new lives and birds sing a light song. My husband....he'll be out back, distracted, hoping for order to give way to chaos!