Spring Cleaning Peter's Office

Yesterday, being a holiday, seemed the perfect time for our annual cleaning of Peter's office.

Peter (I love him!), is never going to be in danger of being called a "neat freak." He has a unique ability (that I unfortunately do not share) to be able to focus so completely on whatever task is at hand, that he can entirely block out EVERYTHING around him. That can mean that if he's working on his laptop at home, and kids are falling off the coffee table and landing all around him crying, he is completely unfazed until I come running from another room to help said children. In the case of his office, that means he is all but completely unaware of the stacks surrounding him.

Granted that he's got a lot in front of him. I like to tease him that he is secretly running some kind of security company because he isn't content with one, or even two monitors. He's got three of them lined up in a row on his credenza and he just moves from one end to the other - literally. It cracks me up! Now he's even got his office manager and his associate using two monitors. But I digress...

So we cleaned up the office. What that means is that I clean up as much junk as I can first. If there are new books, I shelve them and toss out prior editions if needed. Then we just sit there while I hold up things in front of him and he tells me where to put it.

In the process, I took 3 loads of trash to the dumpster, removed 13 rotten apples, 4 very sad oranges, and a stinky slab of string cheese in separate lunch bags under his desk, recovered 14 legal pads with only the front page used, and retrieved one of Hannah's paper dolls peeking out from a limb on an artificial plant.

I also found multiple brochures, texts, and materials that referenced or cited him as a contributor, author or speaker. While I hear what he does on an daily basis, it was so good for me to step back and see how he is involved in the community by speaking, organizing, writing and leading, all "on the side." Those things aren't even part of his every day job description of helping people at the end of their financial rope, running a law practice, administrating a law school, and leading our growing family. Wow. It gave me a new respect and appreciation for my busy husband. He's always doing something!

All that to say, that if he piles up junk in the process, I'm OK with it. That's what I'm good at - cleaning up after people. I'm just proud of my husband, and I'm glad to help in my little small ways. He's worth it, and I love him.