Color Coordinated Cabinets

I got an e-mail today from my friend, Kim. It was one that promised if-you-don’t-forward-it-something-terrible-will-happen. Kim wrote a long introductory paragraph apologizing for the forward, but that if she didn’t send it along and something terrible happened to one of her friends or family members, she would blame it on herself for not sending along the e-mail, and “put my psychiatrist’s grandkids through college” working through the guilt.

I totally cracked up. Both because Kim is hilarious – and can at least laugh at her neurosis – and because I totally relate.

The photo at the top of the page is of my kitchen cabinet. We have Fiesta dishes, which are made right here in WV. I actually got my first set in college as a gift from my awesome roommate Susan. It was chartreuse, and I managed to snatch up another place setting in the same color before it was retired. (The color is similar to the recently released lemongrass.) I also got a couple settings as Christmas gifts, in either white or cobalt. When we registered for wedding gifts, we completed our white/cobalt settings, and then later when they released scarlet, we picked up some extra pieces to round out our color scheme. But here’s the deal, my plates must be stacked from bottom to top – chartreuse, cobalt, white, then red. Of course chartreuse on the bottom because it’s retired, and I don’t want to use them as often as the other colors so they aren’t as likely to get broken. Cobalt next because the dark color shows scratches. Next comes white, and finally red, because there’s plenty of those pieces at our local outlet should we need to replace any.

A few years back, I went to therapy for a few months just to try to get a handle on myself. I was miserable – I lived in this new town where I had few friends living here outside of my wonderful husband and his equally wonderful family. I was in a job I absolutely despised, I had no hobbies, and just felt directionless. (After a few months in therapy I was able to drop to part-time at my job, go back to school to work on a Master’s, developed some new friendships, eventually quit my job to become self-employed, and a few other changes that made a world of difference.) Anyway, I remember one day explaining to my counselor what a typical thought process might be – and at the end of a breathless string of statements asked her, “What do you think of that?” She answered… “I think it sounds like you may have some obsessive-compulsive tendencies.” And while I honestly already knew this (all she had to do was come see my kitchen cabinet), it felt really good to hear someone name it.

It’s not only that I like things to be organized… most people like organization. It’s that things really, really bother me when they are out of place and I have difficulty concentrating on anything else until whatever is bothering me is “fixed.” I’ve actually gotten a bit better after having children. Let’s face it – the house isn’t always tidy with two toddlers running around. But where I can make adjustments and bring order, I do.

So Kim, thanks for sending me that forward today – and while I don’t think you saved my life (regardless of that menacing forward), you did give me a good laugh. And if there’s one thing I’m learning about myself is that it’s the more I can laugh about how ridiculous some of my personality flaws are, the less the have a grip on me.

Take that, you prettily stacked dishes! HA!