Excavating

These last few weeks of maternity leave, I've embarked on an excavation project. There was a certain Closet of Neglect, where I threw things to forget about them, that gradually grew into a Room of Neglect. What I found in the first layer is a time capsule of just about a year ago, when I entered pregnant-and-dissertating land.

• Running shoes I bought in March 2010, right before I found out I was pregnant. Brand new, still in box.
• Meditation CDs from a meditation class I was taking and never completed because of morning sickness.
• Normal, non-maternity winter clothes.

Further layers go even further back in my life:

• A small collection of baby things I had accumulated before I was even pregnant.
• An Obama sticker.
• My wedding photo album.
• Reading packets from graduate school seminars.
• A box of golf pencils from the days I was teaching rhetoric.

Is it possible to be organized? Theoretically, yes, with a place to put everything. Some people out there must be. Is is possible for me to get organized? Armed with a plethora of big clear plastic bins and a labelmaker, I'm going to find out. As I empty the Room of Neglect, things are going into bins (and a great number of things are going to Goodwill). As a bin fills, it gets a label. So far the bins have labels like Office Supplies, Photos, Crafts, Memorabilia, Maternity Clothes, Old Clothes/Rags, Holiday Stuff, Wrapping Paper/Gift Bags/Gift Boxes. And of course, there are already baby-centric bins: Toys Not Yet Age-Appropriate, Baby Clothes Still Too Big, Baby Clothes Already Too Small. Let's not forget the labeled drawers in the foyer desk: Batteries, Things That Stick (tape, post-its), Random Cords and Electronic Stuff, Note Pads, Light Bulbs.

With a place for everything, will everything find a place?