It's happening again. A paper that I badly need, that I was just working on, has disappeared. Hours of searching finally turn it up. Then it goes in a neat pile on the desk only to vanish again the next day. What is happening?

In my former life in California, I believe that I was an exceptionally organized person. Really. People who know me in Peru would be surprised with that statement. Nevertheless, before coming here two years ago, I considered myself a high priest of organization.

I worked hard to have everything just in its right place. If someone was looking for a paper, I could dip in and put my hand right on it. That felt really good!

It was to such an extreme that I would hold planning sessions with myself, charting out what I was going to be doing for the week, the month and even the year. In fact I once had a five year plan and stuck to it! My motto was that orderliness was next to godliness. Of course, I was an avid reader of all sorts of books relating to time management.

Something happened on my way to Peru. For one thing, I am sure that the container with all of our things--- and especially my records---- was turned over several times and all my precious organization was hopelessly jumbled. Nothing has ever been the same. There is something to arriving at a new location with your personal records and worldly goods in 150 boxes and eleven suitcases. Getting it back in the right place just doesn't happen.

Some sort of mental shift occurs, also. For one thing, to get everything back together seems an overwhelming task. Settling into a new home requires much more than rearranging your precious records. In my case, anyway, this was a task that got placed on the back burner..

Instead I resorted to placing my papers in various piles. Then I found myself shifting these piles of paper from one location to another. After a while it becomes a guessing game as to which pile has the paper I need.
Periodic fits of organization fever don't seem to help much either. Instead, I continue to experience long periods of searching for a badly needed document. My resolution to do better doesn't seem to bring much in the way of results.

Perhaps when I crossed into the southern Hemisphere, something happened to my ability to organize myself. Possibly my brain was jumbled up in the trip down here. I have also considered that maybe I am only capable of being organized in the northern hemisphere. It could be that there is some sort of atmospheric condition that makes it more difficult for me in the south. (Sure!)

In turn I have wondered if there are some spirits loose in my house. Papers move from one place to another as if by magic. I will carefully place the papers I am working on in a location, and when I return they have disappeared--- only to reappear in the most unlikely places.

I have no proof, but those spirits could be in human form. They are determined to put any stray paper away, no matter where that place may be. Papers sitting on a desk are orphans and must be moved. Everything on the surface must be neat and put away. I hate to admit it, but I, too, could be one of the guilty parties in this conspiracy.

Despite all this, the obsession with organization stills flares up. This weekend I am going to organize myself again. I like doing it even if next week I suspect that once again I won't be able to find that all important paper.

Happy organizing to all of you!