Sorting Sortie
I've been spending valuable vacation hours facing down the stowed papers and other things that still reside in boxes in the basement at the farm we moved away from last summer.
I've gritted my teeth and steeled my nerves and pitched too many things I'm sure I'll find the perfect use for tomorrow or the next day. I discovered several good things, however.
One, I touched base again with many of the sources for the knowledge that has long ago been incorporated into my private mental storehouse. Scanning articles I had clipped often inspired a deja vu sentiment like this: So this is where I learned that. For example, I saw a really great article on bio-digesters, which I found myself trying to explain to students last month during our "energy" current issues study, realizing all the while that I haven't read about those in any detail for a long time, and grasping for what I was sure was nevertheless significant and real. No wonder. The article I saw today was from a magazine I haven't subscribed to for a long time.
Two, I realized that the computer and internet age does free us from the need to maintain all the paper files that used to be necessary in order to retrieve information. I discarded quite a few paper copies of letters I also still had computer files for. I don't expect to need those letters again, but if I do need them, I'll know to check the computer files instead of a file box.
Three, photocopying, or computer printing, both now as simple as could be, are soooooo much easier to read than those old purplish spirit duplication products. I found a 29-page senior thesis paper I wrote in college on "The Ethics of Curriculum Design," and reading it was so difficult that even scanning it took too much time. I settled for studying the Table of Contents.
Four, I'm relieved to be done with some parts of my past life--creating bulletin boards, for example.
Five, I'm happy for some of the choices we made for our family--joining 4H, homeschooling, doing many things the "hard work/skills-acquiring" way instead of the go-to-the-store-and-buy-it way or the hire-someone-else-to-do-it way.
Six, I'm pleased to see that some of the work I did more than 30 years ago still makes good sense to me. In other words, I don't have serious regrets about where my thinking was headed in those days.
Seven, I haven't wasted my life. Certainly, there's evidence of having spent time on many things that never earned me any money and other things that never got finished properly. But I don't feel cheated for having majored in "trivial pursuits" that now look meaningless and empty.
Eight, finding a picture of that old boyfriend did not prompt feelings of shame or regret.
Nine, I'd rather be "here" than in any of those past life stages.
Ten, I'm glad I saw that little snake in the arts projects box before I touched it. Examination of the contents of that box got aborted abruptly, and the whole box went to the dumpster.
I've gritted my teeth and steeled my nerves and pitched too many things I'm sure I'll find the perfect use for tomorrow or the next day. I discovered several good things, however.
One, I touched base again with many of the sources for the knowledge that has long ago been incorporated into my private mental storehouse. Scanning articles I had clipped often inspired a deja vu sentiment like this: So this is where I learned that. For example, I saw a really great article on bio-digesters, which I found myself trying to explain to students last month during our "energy" current issues study, realizing all the while that I haven't read about those in any detail for a long time, and grasping for what I was sure was nevertheless significant and real. No wonder. The article I saw today was from a magazine I haven't subscribed to for a long time.
Two, I realized that the computer and internet age does free us from the need to maintain all the paper files that used to be necessary in order to retrieve information. I discarded quite a few paper copies of letters I also still had computer files for. I don't expect to need those letters again, but if I do need them, I'll know to check the computer files instead of a file box.
Three, photocopying, or computer printing, both now as simple as could be, are soooooo much easier to read than those old purplish spirit duplication products. I found a 29-page senior thesis paper I wrote in college on "The Ethics of Curriculum Design," and reading it was so difficult that even scanning it took too much time. I settled for studying the Table of Contents.
Four, I'm relieved to be done with some parts of my past life--creating bulletin boards, for example.
Five, I'm happy for some of the choices we made for our family--joining 4H, homeschooling, doing many things the "hard work/skills-acquiring" way instead of the go-to-the-store-and-buy-it way or the hire-someone-else-to-do-it way.
Six, I'm pleased to see that some of the work I did more than 30 years ago still makes good sense to me. In other words, I don't have serious regrets about where my thinking was headed in those days.
Seven, I haven't wasted my life. Certainly, there's evidence of having spent time on many things that never earned me any money and other things that never got finished properly. But I don't feel cheated for having majored in "trivial pursuits" that now look meaningless and empty.
Eight, finding a picture of that old boyfriend did not prompt feelings of shame or regret.
Nine, I'd rather be "here" than in any of those past life stages.
Ten, I'm glad I saw that little snake in the arts projects box before I touched it. Examination of the contents of that box got aborted abruptly, and the whole box went to the dumpster.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
6:39 PM
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