The Pile

A rare photo of my table completely cleared of its usual piles...except for the cat.

I can't shake it. It's always there. Every day, every week, every season of the year...

There's a pile on my dining room table.

The contents of the pile change periodically. But they always indicate a current "focus" of my life.

It might be a pile of Christmas cards with envelopes to address, or it might be the pile of thank-you cards that quickly follow behind.

I just emptied the table of the pile of tax forms only to be replaced by the highly anticipated "intent to homeschool" paperwork.

Sometimes the piles bring sadness, like when I have to fill out documents demonstrating our life with rare disease. But woven into those same sad piles are the jubilation of saying: "Oh my goodness, look how far we have come."

There are a multitude of random school supplies within the piles. Three-ring binders hold my Bible studies and prayer journals, post-it notes contain scribbles of assembly and senate bills that I am following, 3 or 5 subject notebooks with sections for blogging-for planning-for checklists, and pens and pencils that inevitably leap out of our junk drawer and make a home on the table...they represent the stock-piling of years of school supplies being purchased that we never really used because Evie's school supply list was different than the other kids.

I have to shift the piles to an alternate location when we have guests, and I usually re-evaluate my piling compulsion each time that happens. But, I've grown accustomed to it, and realize now that it's not a sign of incompetence or laziness-this is my filing system, this is how I get things done, this IS how I "do what I do."

Do YOU have piles in your life? Do they help you or hinder you?