adventures in missing the point

When we unloaded the moving truck at my sisters, I was given the sweet job of unpacking Mara and Sonna and getting their room settled. They have the upstairs of the house, full of fun little nooks and crannies. It's all sloped ceilings there is this small crawl space that is actually tall enough to stand up in and probably four feet wide. Turns out it is the perfect little place for all of their games, art supplies, ponies and sleeping bags.

If you know me at all, you know I love me a good organized shelf. I love staging things so it looks clean, inviting and colorful. This project was perfect for me. I worked hard to get everything just so.

I called the room "The sleepover room" because of their sleeping bags spread out on the floor. Mara took this quite literally and went to get all of her pajamas to string along that bar on the side of the slanted ceiling. She thought her pajama's made for nice decoration.

Unfortunately, I had a different vision. I could handle the messy pj's for a while. But before everyone came up to check out the girls rooms I told Mara, "I'm just going to put these back in your dresser, okay?"

Mara nodded and seemed okay but later that night I was stricken with guilt. Are you kidding me? Could I honestly not handle the pajama's hanging as decorations in the sleepover room? Really? Am I really that uptight that I couldn't see the creativity in her thinking?

The next day I apologized to Mara. I told her that I really like a clean and tidy space and that sometimes my need for clean gets the best of me. I told her that after thinking about it, I could understand how clever and bright her pj's were for setting the theme of the sleepover room. I just didn't catch her vision the first time around.

Mara acted fine, I told her she needed to help me relax a bit and enjoy a mess more.

As it turns out, she and Sonna are doing a great job of helping me with this request. Because all those games stacked nicely on the shelf there? They play with them! And the evidence is strewn all over their fun-loving bedroom.