Miscellany: Moving on down
The holidays came and went, slipping by so quickly we hardly had time to get used to the routine before it was time to send everyone back to school. Thinking back on it, however, I guess this is about the first week everyone will be back in their "normal" places — kids in school and Dad and Mom at work.
During Christmas vacation I took some time off. We spent one day moving Daughter #2 to the basement — formerly Daughter #1's living space. That was an experience I hope not to repeat soon.
I tried to be positive and helpful, but ended up absolutely exasperated with the #2 child. I learned a lot about her during this moving experience — mostly that she exhibits some obsessive-compulsive tendencies.
And those "experts" that say no two children are alike are totally on target. My two girls couldn't be more different. In fact, I think they plot against me, working to be opposite in everything they do. Daughter #1 is a planner; so Daughter #2 is a haphazard, devil-may-care soul.
A simple move to the basement sounds like such a small task — a couple of hours shuffling boxes and carrying a few heavy items and we'd be done. Boy was I wrong! We may never finish the project. If we do, it'll be just in time to pack her off to college.
Both girls are proficient at doing laundry and general housekeeping. But somewhere along the way I failed to stress the importance of folding and putting away clean laundry.
Before we began the daunting task of moving from one room to another, we had to fold and put away #2's laundry. As I folded her T-shirts, she informed me I was folding them "wrong." Yes, this from a child whose idea of folding was tossing them on the floor.
While I folded T-shirts — her way — she organized and counted her prized possession — tubes of lip gloss. That was her big contribution to the morning of moving, and I'm happy to report she has 39 tubes of lip gloss.
Moving her bed we found about 10 half-full bottles of water, a couple bottles of soda, a spoon, and a flashlight. I didn't ask, but I'm sure there was a logical reason for all these things living under her bed.
She spent considerable time organizing magazines by name and date and books by author and size. Yet, most of her bathroom supplies are still living in the hall — except the lip gloss.
After getting everything carried downstairs I was happy to retreat and let her finish organizing things her way. I don't know how long that will take and I'm not looking for any miraculous changes just because she's living in the basement.
Just this weekend I noticed she's back to "folding" laundry the old way — in stacks on the floor. I guess that's one good thing about her living down there — I don't have to look at the mess and she can organize and alphabetize magazines, books, and lip gloss to her heart's content.
— DONNA BERNHARDT
