I sit with Pedro in my lap. He is sweet and vulnerable right now, happy for the tender attention. I’m happy, too. I reach out to pet Buttercup who is resting beside me. She is receptive and pleased to be included. I’ve just finished my morning reading and now I’m journaling. Soon, I’ll go into sitting meditation. It is a pleasant and grounding way to begin the day.
Not much seems to be on my mind as I attempt to right (oh, look, a Freudian slip!), rather, as I attempt to write or make something right within me. Sometimes I think a cup of coffee would help, but that ritual comes after the reading, writing, and sitting. So, I sit with journal in hand looking around the room.
I see a mess. Pedro has pulled the stuffing out of his basketball and spread it all over the house. He has also brought out most of his other toys and scattered them everywhere. I haven’t washed the dishes in two days and clean clothes lay folded atop mama’s chair in the corner. Books are spread around my reading and writing area: Tao Te Ching, My Grandfather’s Belssings, Kitchen Table Wisdom, The Art of the Personal Essay, Writing Down the Bones, Women, Food, and God, and others. Cameras and camera accessories surround computer doodahs (the word my sister uses for things when she doesn’t want to spend the time thinking of its proper name). To say things are a tad untidy would be an understatement.
This is what happens when I’m left home alone for a few days; it can even happen when I’m not left alone. Some may say I’m lazy. Some would say it’s a reflection of my inner life. Some say it’s simply the creative personality. I say it’s just not that important (but I do like the one about the creative personality).
On the other hand, maybe it is important. I enjoy a neat house. I notice that I breathe a sigh of contentment and pleasure when the house is clean and orderly. Surely, that means something. It is clear that disorder can be a distraction, as evidenced by this journal entry. 
Yet, I see order and disorder as naturally occurring in the universe. David Baltimore, Nobel Laureate and biologist said, “Life is a little bit of aggregated order in the midst of a continuing tendency to disorder.”
Perhaps disorder inspires creativity. Henry Adams suggests, “Chaos often breeds life when order breeds habit.” It seems to me that a healthy balance of order and disorder may well suit me best.
I think I’ll clean the house now.
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