SPACE

My sister Alice once had a book with tips on how to get organized, and it had this cute little acronym SPACE which stood for Sort, Purge, Assign a Space, Containerize and Evaluate (over and over again apparently.) Well this week when I noticed that once again my inbox at work seemed to be magically multiplying, I started thinking about SPACE. I often sort my inbox by sender so I can delete, but deleting doesn't really help. They just come back again. Yes...thinking about my newly discovered SPACE hierarchy of needs, I decided it was time now to Purge!

You see, like many of us, I somehow got on some e-mail lists. I truly don’t mind the “joke” e-mails I get from friends. I see those as a sweet way of keeping connected. Some of my “junk mail” came because I actually signed up for things like “Metro” (train) alerts, but mostly I was getting e-mails after making one stinking purchases years ago. Airlines, hotels.com, 1-800-flowers—you name it. I was probably getting weekly or sometimes even daily notification of great deals. Argh….so over the past few days I’ve scrolled down to the fine print and UNSUBSCRIBED to about 8 e-mails I’ve been getting regularly! Why I didn’t do this years ago I just don’t know. I now feel a bit less overwhelmed. Heck, I’m feeling practically underwhelmed by my inbox now. (Why is underwhlemed not really a word? And why can I be inept or adept but not just ept?) I digress…

Last night Su and I found a great place to give for her to give birth. As a social worker she’s seen some different birthing situations and had a strong sense that she didn’t want a hospital setting (unless there are complications of course and then we will be whisked to a nearby hospital.) But if all goes well, she’ll have a natural birth with midwives in a maternity center. It just seems right for us. And it’s great having that decision finally made.

Su and I will drive with my mom tomorrow to NC to pay our respects to mom’s sister at her memorial service. It will be good to see Ann’s children and grandchildren and I think will help us get more closure than we’ve had. Alrighty then, back to my practically sparse inbox. (Now if I could only purge those major tasks that are required of me by my job! ;-) -Monica