Well shoot. I have reordered my blog line up several times for the coming months. Due to current circumstances, some topics just don’t feel right. I thought I had the next few months cemented. That is, until now. This is the one that screamed “pick me and start writing”. Fine. My April newsletter’s lead article is grossly philosophic and basically wrote itself. I’m hoping that this one will do the same since I acquiesced.
We all know what a professional organizer does right? We help you figure out what to keep or release. We give guidance on disposal options. We assist in pantry, closet, and underwear drawer arranging. We pack and unpack boxes during moves. We declutter residences so stagers and real estate brokers can sell houses quicker and for the highest value. We help get you settled into your new residence expeditiously and ably so that you can relax and find what you need sooner. We work with kids and adults applying time management principles so that school and office work is completed on schedule. Some of us have special skills to address giftedness and learning challenges so that major obstacles become minor hurdles on the way to significant victories. We sort through your photos so that precious memories and people are catalogued for convenience. We categorize your home and work files for expediency. We downsize when residences become too big or circumstances require greater levels of care in senior care facilities. We respectfully provide solace after the loss of loved ones or relationship dissolutions as we thoughtfully remove remnants so that life may go on. We clear out everyday clutter and some even tackle hoarding situations to create safe pathways and restore livable conditions. Tech savvy organizers create digital systems and clean up jumbled files for easy sorting and less RAM usage.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Organizers call upon other organizers to step in when we need additional hands during massive projects or to meet timelines when our schedules are too full. We even turn to our colleagues during times when our personal needs are beyond our abilities or skill set. Had I known about professional organizers back when I was on bedrest during my pregnancies, you bet I would have hired one to keep my household functioning with less stress. Instead my husband and mother-in-law responded to the call for baby #1, and then my 5 year old stepped up to help mommy with #2.
And then there are times like last month. Some of you have already heard this story so you can stop now. For the rest, an organizing angel made life a heck of a lot easier and less stressful for my family and I will be forever grateful.
Last year I agreed to host a buddy at the annual conference for the National Association for Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO). Originally I had no intention of attending except that it was in Fort Worth, and it gave me an excuse to visit my daughter. I also wasn't sure I wanted to host a buddy for a number of reasons. Buddies help first timers feel welcome and comfortable among the throngs. In the end, I opted to do both. I was assigned Shanley Ten Eyck from NAPO AZ. At the time I thought it was pretty cool that she lives in Tucson where my son is (was) at school and her husband is an official at the University.
Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay
John's a senior and during their early March spring break, they learned that they were not to return to campus unless necessary. He has an off campus apartment so he hadn't left for break. We spent days trying to work out the logistics of getting him evacuated and his apartment cleared (we live about 2k miles away in Portland, OR). Not surprisingly his thinking has been unproductively distressed without friends around to say goodbye to after 4 years, no graduation ceremony or celebration, and teleclass confusion. His senior year imploded as has happened to so many students. After deciding that it wasn't wise for my husband and I to drive to AZ to fetch him with hotel and restaurant and restroom uncertainty, nor did he want to infect us if he is a carrier, he would fly to his sister in Texas after shipping his stuff out. But he was mentally stuck just like many of my clients under normal circumstances.
Then in a moment of lucidity, it dawned on me to reach out to Shanley. She immediately jumped into action, was amenable when evacuation dates got pushed from a Friday to Wednesday with rumors of Dallas Fort Worth airport potentially shutting down. Shanley dropped everything to get there Wednesday afternoon after grabbing him some cleaning and packing supplies. As he was making his flight arrangements to DFW late afternoon, he received a call from his sis letting him know she had a fever, he backspaced destination from DFW to Portland (PDX) in the nick of time.
Unsure if FedEx would arrive in time for his flight out, Shanley offered to take all his boxes to her home and await the FedEx driver. With few Ubers available and no campus transit, she then offered to take him to the airport Thursday afternoon. I was in a puddle of tears with gratitude by nightfall. She took so much off our plates and minds.
Had I not attended conference last year, not agreed to host a buddy, things would look very differently for John as he doesn't have a car and his apartment was quite a distance from useful stores. My debt of gratitude to Shanley is unspeakable. All that said, where and how I can help, I will do my best to rise to the occasion even if it is a virtual hug to get someone through their day.
Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay
John arrived home safely followed by his boxes nearly a week later.
Some of us organizers wear many hats, some stick to our niches. We provide a wide range of services to make lives easier, to takeaway burdens, to create comfort and higher levels of productivity in the spaces into which residents pour massive amounts of love and finances. We are here to help even in the most unlikely events including, but not limited to, underwear drawers.
