DAY 33 - DONATE - because we can change the world one step at a time

A few days ago I helped a friend move, and he had a few things that he no longer wanted – so at the end of the day we loaded them into my truck. After a few days of furniture and electronics rambling around in the back of my truck, today I finally got around to running them down to the Donation Center. A couple of nice young men emptied the back of my truck, and then handed me a coupon as a Thank You.

   Donations are a great thing. It’s a great feeling to take something that no longer serves you to somewhere that it can be shared with someone else. And if you don’t know anyone personally, these Donation Centers all around can make sure that the benefit goes to help someone that really needs the help.

   I have long been a shopper of Thrift Stores – going back to my childhood. My mom always loved finding a bargain, and my dad’s office even had a Thrift Store in it. My dad worked for the American Red Cross for 49 years, and often (especially during the summer) on days that Mom had to work, Dad would just take me to the office with him. At age 5, I was the youngest Red Cross Volunteer on record – and I really did volunteer. I would help deliver mail and messages around the building, help raise and lower the flag each day (back when people still did that), and I worked at the Red Cross Thrift Store. I would fold clothes, help count the change in the register, and sort toys (which was my favorite and I did it A LOT!)

   Sometimes people would come into the Thrift Store to shop for fun, sometimes because it was all they could afford (and even as a kid, I could tell), and sometimes people would come in to get things because they had nothing. I still remember a Mom and her two kids that came in one day – they still smelled like smoke, because their house had burned down overnight. They had a note from my Dad that gave some sort of instructions to Helen VanDyke, the 80-year-old woman that ran the Thrift Store most days – and Helen asked me to hold the bag as she loaded up clothes and other things that this family needed. I was only age 8, and about as tall as Mrs. VanDyke, but that image has stayed with me – because it was the first time I saw first-hand just how essential these donations can be. It meant everything to this family who now literally had nothing.

   So I try to donate when I can. Sometimes I have a few things, so I’ll just run a box down. Or after my Annual Garage Sale, the rest of the items are loaded into a truck and hauled down to a Donation Center. So far this summer I’ve already donated 3 truckloads, and another load or two will happen before the snow flies. And it’s good to clear out the space, and it’s good to share my excess, and it’s good to know that I’m helping out someone – like the family I remember so well from that day in my childhood.

Go into the world and do well. 

But more importantly, 

go into the world and do good.

DAY 18 - CREATIVE MINDS ARE RARELY TIDY

Over the past few years, in Annual Performance Reviews, one item has come up over and over:  Desk is Clean and Tidy, Score 1 (out of 5). It’s always been my weakness – even as a kid. So, once a year, just before Performance Reviews, I would clean up my desk – at least a little bit.

My father, Dale Evans Roe, at work at
American Red Cross, Oakland, about 1972.

   And, it’s definitely an inherited trait. My dad’s desks – at both home and work – were always a mess. Mom was patient as his desk clutter slowly overtook half of the Kitchen Table too. I think it’s because Dad always had so many things going on, too many projects – and he wanted to keep an eye on them all. Yup, I definitely inherited that from him.

   I’m a “Collector” – not quite to the levels of Hoarding, but I do have a few weaknesses. In fact, I love to watch the Hoarding shows on Netflix – they always make me feel better about my housekeeping skills. I collect books and information, a bit to excess. Today when I counted, all 14 bookcases in my house were filled – and there were books that didn’t even fit onto the shelves. It was time to do something.

   So that was today’s task: Organize my Den. I sorted papers, shredded stacks of documents, organized office supplies, and cleared out the books that I decided I can live without. I filed old tax returns, divorce papers, annulment papers. I ran across the Wedding Cards from a few months ago, and tucked them away for a time when I’m not feeling quite so fragile. And as I added recent Journal entries to the shelf, I ran across cards and notes and letters to and from the men in my life – which will stay a part of my journal, because all of those things have made me who I am today. At the end of the day I had 2 big black bags of shredding, another big bag of trash, 4 boxes of books to sell, and a nice pile of extra office supplies to give away.

Dad's Antique Desk. A rare glimpse of the desktop.

   It’s nice to have a Clean Desk – at least for now. I don’t expect it to stay that way, because I have a few projects that I want to work on – and they require spreading out. Maybe a few too many projects, but they’re too intriguing to put off any longer.

   And as the piles creep back up, and book magically appear and overfill the shelves, and notebooks fill with thoughts and ideas – well, my desk will look my like my dad’s. And that’s OK, because it is Dad’s desk. I inherited a beautiful old antique desk that once belonged to my father, so it’s fitting if my desk habits look much like his as well. If I’m blessed to have any ideas similar to his, or a heart as big as his, or a writing talent as fabulous as his – I will count myself lucky. Dad was a creative soul that was rarely tidy, and I guess so am I.

You say I'm messy. I say my things are arranged in 
an abstract manner intentionally as part of 
my unquenchable thirst for creative expression.