Today at the Palmer Senior Center, Mary who is with Mario, had put a placemat and silverware out for me. I was touched by this gesture. Now on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I eat with them, and with Betty. Today we were joined by my friend Hillary.

I don’t know how the subject came up, but Betty remarked that her son has a remarkable memory, always has. She asked him to talk further about this, adding that he was young at the time. He said that his mind was like a Rolodex; he just flipped to the card he was looking for, and the thought he was pursuing was there. I heard this and my ears perked up. This, to me was an excellent analogy, that is for those of us old enough to know what a Rolodex actually is. Across from us, at another table, were four people in their twenties. I said that most likely, they did not know what a Rolodex actually is. Everyone then nodded in agreement.

I then said that the inside of my head is like a filing cabinet in that there are little elves pulling out files and throwing them everywhere. I had actually stolen this analogy from my sister Eleanor, who came up with it.

I got to thinking about it, and I realized that the problem is that there is no filing cabinet inside of my head – just piles and piles of papers and books and post it notes. The elves gave up on finding anything some time ago – so they are sitting around, bored.

If the inner and outer selves are co-joined, well then this is a truism. Right now, on the floor of my study are several boxes of books, semi-categorized. Also, piles of papers, a box of thank you cards, several journals, and two fleece coats.

I will, on the next rainy day, clean up around here. This cleanup will culminate with a round of sweeping and vacuuming. The problem is, my organizing my external piggy nest is like putting a Band-Aid on a very large wound. It will appear as though I am a tidy person, but I’m not. Give it a week and my environs will again be in a state of disarray.

I have always thought that this is because I have limited organizational capabilities. In other words, I am organizationally challenged. Pete, he takes care of the photo computer files. And when I need to find a written document, he finds it for me. I tell him that it won’t always be this way, but like me, he is dubious.

What is wrong with this picture? What’s wrong with this picture is that I have set up a book network in which hundreds of books have been categorized and therefore can be easily located. Go figure. Why can’t I do this on the home front? This I do not know.

Maybe I will get a few filing cabinets and give the elves a raise. If I do this, I’ll no longer have affective organizational disorder, or AOD.

Next: 250. 9/10/21: Abundance: The Story Continues