My afternoon began simply enough.

I had no clear plans for it.

I knew the Cubs played at 5:10 and the Lobos played at 5:10, so my important engagements for the day were occurring later, and like most weekend days, I had little forethought about what the rest of my day should hold.

If you’ve been to my house at any time in the last 7 years, you know that there is a desk table that sits off to the right immediately beyond the front door. The table has been basically unusable because, well, it’s been a holding station for mail and papers and other things in my life I’ve known I’ve needed to deal with, but just needed a place to sit until I could get around to them.

The table became just a slowly growing pile of junk.

My sister called around noon and asked if her and Grant might come over and help me prep my garden box for another chile plant crop. I countered and asked if they’d come over and just play a board game with me. She sounded like they might, so I set up the game I had in mind on my main dining table, and then I wondered what to do with myself while waiting.

And I saw the pile.

“Now’s as good as time as any to start.”

Not sure how far I’d get or what I’d find deconstructing the stack, I put a card table next to the pile table and started by opening and sorting old mail.

The pile coming down. Probably about halfway there at the time of this pic today.

Eight or so hours later, after a casual digging through the the hill of papers and stuff, the pile was dissolved. Victory!

It was an interesting tour. I found some mortgage related papers from back when I bought the house over 6 years ago. I enjoyed revisiting old birthday and Christmas cards from family and friends that got absorbed into the pile. I found business cards, church bulletin, book notes, old music and photo CDs, bill statements, a few thin books, magazines, photos, bill statements, old adverts I didn’t get into the trash, an old boxed puzzle, notes to myself, and bill statements- quite an interesting collection for seven years of concentrated clutter. By the time I had the bill statements separated from the other paper items in the pile, it took me nearly two hours to sort them and then file them in their proper folders in the filing cabinet. And I think I probably got to throw a full third of the paper materials that were in the pile away. That felt good.

Kris and Grant and I never got our game play in. But I was able to get rid of the pile and to get the table back.

Now I have a clean, fresh table to put new junk on.

Just watch me.