My wife’s idea of cleaning up the clutter and mine are two vastly
different things. For my wife, cleaning means to throw away everything in
sight. For me, it’s more like rearrange things and hide stuff. The hiding
aspect comes in pretty handy - if I want to keep anything! We’ve sort of
learned to put up with each other’s different approach and make it work.
This past week, she went on another “cleaning” spree. I’ll admit, the
kitchen does look different - clean, I guess. But I keep wondering what I’ll be
looking for next week or next month. I’m sure I’ll be digging through
everything, trying to find a certain something, and talking to myself, saying,
“I know I had that, but where did I put it?”
Of course, I could ask my wife - but by then, she won’t remember. Out
of sight, out of mind, you know. When my kids still lived at home we all knew
if something was missing to check the trash.
In her defense, sometimes the items she chooses to toss are well past
their expiration date and I just choose to ignore that fact. But sometimes
there is nothing wrong at all - she simply doesn’t want them any longer. I
suppose it comes down to this; I’m sentimental and she is not. So, I
keep almost everything, she keep nearly nothing. After
nearly thirty years, I am kind of used to it.
I’ve also learned to combat her discarding of perfectly good things
that I want to keep. It’s easy, I just go through the trash. Which is what I
did this past week, as soon as I noticed the kitchen. Found some things too. Things
I refuse to throw away.
And hid them. The end result? I
still have my stuff and the kitchen is still clean! Like I said, we’ve learned
to make it work!
