Karen Adair: The pros and cons of being organized

I found an old blog entry that I felt inspired to share today. Especially in light of my current attempts to stay organized…while playing Mom, preparing to go back to school, helping children sign up for their own classes, AP exams, etc. This particular event took place a couple years ago, just a week or so after school started…when I was looking forward to doing more things now that five out of the seven children were back in school.

Yeah, right.

Snow

It snowed in my house today.

Now I know what you’re thinking. It’s August. In Texas. And I said, “in my house.”

How does this happen you say?

One word.

Madeline.

For those who know her, this should be enough to make you shake your head, laugh out loud and fill in the blanks all by yourself; and you would probably hit it pretty close to the mark.

For those that need a little more information I’ll break it down for you. Madeline is almost 5. Is that enough? No? Okay, I’ll give you a little more. Madeline is 5 going on 15.

Where was I when Madeline was making it snow in our house? I was making dinner, signing the usual pile of papers that come home with 5 children the first days of school, and cleaning up the dining room after putting together a new piece of furniture; to help me keep things better organized. I was so organized I didn’t notice the piece of Styrofoam that went missing.

I heard from the kids that it was snowing upstairs (as she shredded the Styrofoam with her younger sister), and yet I couldn’t find it in me to get upset. This was Madeline we were talking about. My husband handed her a bag and asked her to go clean it up. He was going to make her responsible. I went up with a vacuum. I was being realistic.

Yup. It had snowed in our game room all right. And in the bedrooms…and all over the air hockey table. I must say I was actually impressed. I didn’t think the piece of styrofoam had been that big. So much for being observant. Seriously. It didn’t take me long to vacuum it up, but it gave me plenty of time to reminisce about the time it actually did snow here in Texas. That was a fabulous Christmas Eve. A true miracle.

Just like my children.

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