A cluttered desk means a busy life

Sigh.

I found some consolation in a quotation my friend Marie shared: "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what's an empty desk a sign of?"



Results of a Google search attribute those comforting words to Albert Einstein. I accept that without spending any more time searching.

That's progress on my path to organization, I hereby declare.

But one more detour is essential. A book I borrowed from the library more than 30 years ago —

"Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise," the 1977 bestseller by Pam Young and Peggy Jones, has stayed with me.

The sisters' 3-by-5-inch index-card-organizational system was too complicated for me, but I remember laughing out loud at the mishaps that led them to orderliness.

I'm not there yet. Probably won't ever be. And although I aspire to a tidier desk, I proclaim that digressions, distractions and detours enrich my life.

Self-acceptance also provides consolation.

Yes, Happy New Year.



Kate Coleman covers The Maryland Symphony and writes a monthly column for The Herald-Mail.