(page 48) FEBRUARY 2015
LITTLE PARENT ON THE PRAIRIE by Tracy Kirby
mommy’s messy secret I like to think that I have strong life skills. I like to think that I am a survivor, a conqueror, and an overall go-getter. However, there are days when I survey the situation that is my entirely unorganized home and wonder how I was ever authorized to run a household. Household and general life organization has never been my strong suit. In fact, it is probably the weakest of all my suits. The workplace, however, was somehow a different story. My offices and desks were always extremely organized. My computer work files were laid out so intuitively Curious George could navigate them. And, barring the several coffee cups that would somehow proliferate in my work area, for years no one ever knew my dirty little unorganized secret…
That is, until I had a child. You see, with a child, you always have to be organized and prepared. Preparedness wards off disasters. You must be prepared. And up to this point in my life, I was able to skirt by with just some minor infractions. (You know, like an occasional missed flight, lost keys, a lost parked car, unmatched socks, a boarding pass flushed down the toilet on accident, a phone flushed down the toilet also by accident, a perpetually lost phone, a dropped wallet in a parking lot, an expired driver’s license, etc.) But, when a child came along, organization became paramount to survival and sanity. So, I upped my game and somehow we got through the infant years with no major disasters. But lately, something has gone back to being seriously