Clear out clothes, cleanse the soul
Posted 1/23/03

Most people wait for spring to begin spring cleaning, but once the new year passes, it just seems a more appropriate time for me to clean.

Now when I say, "clean," of course I mean the literal cleaning of "stuff" in the home, but I also mean cleaning as it pertains to the soul.

And if you think about it, they sortaí go hand-in-hand.

I go through junk drawers, drawers filled with "important" papers (at least they were at one time), and closets jammed with stuff I needed to put away in a hurry because someone was coming over to visit.

Itís cleansing the junk, but at the same time, I find things I had forgotten about - little notes from my son, my best friend and my husband. Those donít get thrown away, of course, just perused once again to make me smile, or sometimes shed a tear.

I then focus on my clothes closets. Yes, I said, closets with an "s." Though I have one of my own, I also share my sonsí closets. Itís a woman thing.

Going through the clothes I realize I must face reality.

The reality? I will never again be able to fit into that funky jean shirt which is currently one size too small for me. Okay, maybe itís more like two sizes too small.

Iíve been known to hang on to clothes for several years telling myself that "someday" Iíll lose the weight and be able to squeeze my thighs into those jeans again.

You know, itís really tough for a woman to admit that. So, now itís time to pass them on to someone else much more petite than I.

Surprisingly, I was even able to get my six-year-old into the ridding game.

"Spence, itís time to pack up some of those toys you donít play with anymore and give them to children who could really use them," I said to my son with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.

"Okay, mommy!" he replied and went right to work.

Now, before you go thinking my child is a saint, you must first realize I have impressed this upon him several times before with the complete opposite reaction from my little darling.

So, weíre getting rid of toys, my old clothes and miscellaneous junk. Now, itís time to work on my hubby.

"Honey, youíve had this t-shirt since we started dating a dozen years ago and itís in shreds," I plead with him.

"But, you canít get rid of that one - itís the most comfortable one I own!" he pleads.

"Besides, thatís from the first concert we ever went to," he replies with those big brown eyes staring at me like a puppy dog making me feel like sergeant Olga.

"Okay, fine. But, you have to get rid of some t-shirts, your dresser drawers are bulging at the seams," I tell him.

"Yeah, yeah - I know," he says with a voice mixed with guilt and dread.

Obviously, heís not ready for cleansing.

The ritual of ridding of oneís clothes, toys and other stuff somehow transforms a person. It carries over into other parts of your world, too.

Like ridding yourself of bad habits.

One bad habit I find we Americans have really gotten into is blame. Blaming everyone else for our problems.

We blame that crabby customer for our lousy day, instead of trying to make them smile.

We blame our parents for everything that goes wrong in our life, instead of realizing weíre adults now and make our own decisions.

And we blame those in public office for pretty much everything else, instead of running for office ourselves and doing what we think is best for our community and our country.

Just look at how litigious our society has become.

A woman buys a cup a coffee from a fast-food drive through and stupidly places it in between her legs. She then proceeds to burn her body and, of course, places the blame on the establishment that made the coffee.

Now, we have people suing the same restaurant because they ate at the fast food joint on a daily basis for 20 years and theyíre overweight.

Hello! If you eat greasy, fast food three times a day and donít exercise, youíre going to get fat. Ignorance is not an excuse.

And hereís a new one that takes the cake.

Apparently this guy bought these really expensive cigars and he wanted to insure them in case of loss. Surprisingly, an insurance company actually insured the manís cigars. Not the brightest move on the insurance companyís part, I might add.

Then, the man claims the cigars have been burned in a slow fire (smoke ëem if you got ëem) and he wants to cash in on his insurance policy.

The man actually collects on his "loss." And he was probably thinking to himself, "Iím so smart - I really fooled them."

That is, until the insurance company turned around and had him arrested for arson!

Serves him right in my book.

But thatís the kind of world we live in now. Sue is not just a girlís name anymore. Itís what you do when you donít want to take responsibility. Blame someone else.

So, I try to accept the mistakes Iíve made and correct them if I can. Some of which are right there in black and white for all to read.

I messed up a manís name in the paper two weeks ago. Mike Smith is the new civil defense coordinator for Mille Lacs County, but thatís not what I wrote. I combined his name with the other jailer, Doug Hanson, and came up with Mike Hanson.

I screwed up big time. I felt like an idiot, but I admitted my mistake and I apologized. Now, Iím moving on - learning from that dumb mistake.

So, I must say "kudos" to the coach of Philadelphiaís football team who took responsibility for the teamís loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday in the playoffs. It takes a big person to get on national television and admit he, as coach, was responsible for the loss.

Iím betting that January is probably prime time for spring cleaning in the NFL.

Wouldnít it be grand if we could all do a little spring cleaning? Go ahead and get rid of the unworn clothes, pointless paperwork, bad habits and all that "stuff" that tends to take over our lives. You have my permission.

Now, if I could just convince my husband to part with some of those t-shirts from high school, Iíd be doing alright!