Months have slipped by since I’ve sat at my desk for any length of time. During the summer it’s something just short of a miracle if I spend more than 20 minutes a day there. This summer was even more exceptional in that regard. Because my summer ended with hospitalization, surgery, and recovery, I’ve spent even less time there than I would normally.
When I returned to the office last week it was hard to get back into the swing of things. Summer was over. The interns scattered from one end of the world to the other finishing their studies or getting ready for their next adventures. I missed them. I missed the luxury of sitting on a soft couch while my laptop earned its name.
I’ve kind of gotten back into the office swing of things this week, but I’ve noticed there are bits and pieces of my summer all over the place. Walking to the bookshelves is as challenging as a maze. My Ikea grocery bag is the lone occupant of the intern cube. And then there’s my desk. It’s covered in summer–summer and a few other things.
My very organized and helpful interns tried to create order from the disarray of my desk. I think it will be helpful when I have some time to actually deal with it. In the meantime, I look around and I see all sorts of things that bring back lots of good memories.
As I scan my desk, I see my print with all the Yay Ducks that sits on top of the notebook containing our ideas about Joseph as a TCK. There’s my Starbucks travel mug that was absolutely disgusting; some brave soul cleaned it out and now it’s my go-to for the morning coffee. There’s a post-it note proclaiming, “Kiss Me I’m Asian.” Canvas covered boards with portraits and words describing three cultures sit on top of the catalog for our tie-dyed T-shirts. Printouts of questions for the preschoolers and younger elementary aged kids to tell about their weeks come dangerously close to being mixed in with liability waivers from the bouncey castle place.
My desk is not tidy. One day it may look different, but for the moment it’s filled with the flotsam and jetsam of a well lived summer. As much as I crave orderliness, I kind of like all the ephemera that kindles memories of frenetically good days.
What’s on your desk?
8 responses to “Desk Flotsam and Jetsam”
My desk is a nightmare at the moment. I’m trying to finish one big project while in the middle of another. And I threw my purse, water bottle, coffee mug, coat, keys, phone on my desk and it kinda pushed everything together and I jumped right into answering emails and phone calls. Sooo, I think I’ll go organize it. 🙂
I think I could love your desk, Sara! I hope you had fun organizing it.
Hmm…bills, receipts, a prayer letter or two, a recipe I just printed off for pumpkin biscuits, a couple pages of my 7-year old’s journal, hidden printer paper so the 2-year-olds can’t get into it, a hot-ish cup of coffee. Dust. Lots of Arizona Fall dust. 🙂
Your desk sounds almost as busy as you are, Aimee! I love that your 7 year old has a journal. That makes me happy. Thanks for stopping by!
Bills, receipts, recipes, and coupons for the most part. Never enough working pens within reach and always with the random thing I may be looking for at any given time never quite in plain sight (i.e. car keys!) But it’s MY mess, right? And I am rather fond of it. I’d be lost without it!
A stack of commentaries on the Gospel of John, and other books I refer to often these days… Various files of papers that were pulled out to use and haven’t been refiled, either because the job I got them out for isn’t finished, or because I never got them put away. There are disorderly piles of cards and letters I never answered, one very messy pile of addresses and phone numbers on little pieces of paper and business cards; every time I want to sort through them, I don’t make much progress, because I’m afraid I’ll throw somebody away…. There are two piles of paper and files that have been there since we moved here. At the time, I considered them “active” but obviously no action has been taken on them as of yet…
There is also lots of dust, and most likely a fair amount of cat hair. There’s my pencil case (trousse) and a blotter (sous mains), with this year’s calendar on it. I can usually clear a spot just big enough to put either my computer or the stuff I’m working on… I hate that it’s so messy, but I don’t seem very motivated to do much about it…
I completely understand about owning your mess! I kind of feel like I’m not quite myself when everything is pristinely neat.
I feel your pain with not wanting to throw away anyone’s contact info–or some other vital piece of information–but it’s too much brain power to figure out what to do with it in a way that I’ll remember when I need it.