I’ve realized that very few people understand my particular brand of organization. How I arrange things in the fridge (and, yes, there is an order), the dishes in the drying rack, my particular bookcase, even my husband’s clothes in his baskets in the bedroom. No one really gets it, no one seems to understand that there IS an order, a point. Or at least I think that no one gets it. Maybe it’s me, but I assume that it’s obvious when you look at it.

Take the fridge for an example:  fruit and snacks on the top shelf, drinks on the second shelf (left to right: coffee/beer, water bottles, sodas/juice boxes), large drinks (juice and milk) and leftovers on the bottom shelf, and in the door: condiments on the top shelf, cheese in the little cabinet, and large bottles (wine, mineral water, etc.) in the middle and bottom shelves.

I admit, I get annoyed when people mess with my system, when things get placed willy-nilly rather than in their particular places. Not all the time but sometimes. I like seeing things where they should be, to feel that bit of accomplishment in that something is in order. The order that I can impose upon my environment is that little bit of control that I can have in an out-of-control world. Some people might say that is a foolish notion – control – but…it’s what I do. I like to know my environment and I do. As a teenager, I could tell when someone had been in my room, when things had been moved from where I had specifically placed them, the second I stepped into the door. It’s why I set my kitchen table so that neither I nor anyone else will be tempted to set clutter on it. It’s why my bookcase with my historical fiction novels is ordered by dynasty, author, and then titles chronological within that author’s scope. It’s why my closet is ordered by clothing type (cardigan, tops, dresses, skirts) and then by color within their category. These are the little threads of order that I can hold onto and that I can set right if they ever get out of whack, unlike most of life, and it’s gives me a bit of relief, I realize.

These are just the thoughts that bounced around in my head as I cleaned out and ordered the fridge the other day.