Empty Closets

It has begun. The insanity. The fatigue. The husband working very late hours. The running around and around, almost in circles. The kids who won’t go to bed before nine pm because their father is not home. The house looking like a wreck because of aforementioned kids who won’t go to bed and a mother too tired by the time they finally do.

To further compound the situation, I have been running to appointments all week with my three-year-old daughter who is finally undergoing a speech evaluation because even the barely two-year-olds in her playgroup can speak mountains more than she can. At her speech evaluation, the evaluator agreed that she could definitely use speech therapy. She failed her hearing test because she has fluid in one ear and refused to cooperate in the sound room. So, instead of staying home to clean for Shabbos today, I was at the pediatrician about the fluid. (He does not think it’s anything to be concerned about at this time of the year.) By the time I got home and had a chicken soup cooking on the stove, it was time for lunch.

I forgot to mention, I was just at the pediatrician with my daughter yesterday for a WIC blood test. I just realized the next WIC appointment was scheduled for the morning after my brother’s wedding, at 9:15 AM. (I hurriedly changed the date.) At the doctor’s two days in a row, I feel like I should start moving in…

My brother’s wedding is drawing near. I have been running to the dressmaker and the fabric store and the costume stores. (Purim is a few days before the wedding!) I made appointments at the sheitel macher and the makeup artist. I ordered new yarmulkes and suits for the boys. I hope everything will be ready in time. I am praying that the dressmaker will not ruin my gown. (For the small fortune she’s charging for minor alterations, it better come out perfect!) I have to pick up the little girl gowns from the gemach this Sunday. The expenses are really piling up – and I haven’t bought a thing yet for Pesach… (Unless you count the case of plastic plates that was on sale this week at the KRM supermarket!)

My mishalach manos are sitting in a box, waiting to be put together. My birthday is this week. I wonder if DH will remember. (I sent him some hints a month or so ago by email, of gift ideas I’d love for him to buy me.) I found no evidence that he bought any of it. Instead, he bought a really expensive digital camera that he wanted. Men – go figure.

The one Pesach cleaning mountain I managed to tackle this week was my linen closet. I devoted the good part of my Monday morning to it. If there was ever any closet that intimidated me with its sheer multitude of stuff, the linen closet was it. I was worried I would get swept away by the avalanche. I needed to devise a method to the madness.

You will see a picture of my empty linen closet. (I took the image with DH’s new, top-of-the-line camera.) How did I empty out a closet that was so thoroughly packed? The only way possible; one shelf at a time. I put everything on the hallway floor or in the bedroom to organize. I washed the shelves and the floor. I actually found chometz! I never would have believed I’d find some in the linen closet, but apparently, I did. It was a licorice nib, covered in dust at the bottom corner of the closet. I also found a marble from my kids’ marble run game. I found a pair of pink socks that fit my daughter when she was a year old (now how did those get in there!?!)

I rearranged the contents so the linen is now on a lower shelf and the first aid box and related medicine chest/bathroom storage items are now easier to reach. (My linen closet is right outside the bathroom, the latter of which has minimal storage space.) Less often used items are now on the highest shelf. The towels are all nicely rolled and easier to see. I made room for the case of Bounty paper towels that I bought last week on sale. It is such a pleasure to open the closet door and be struck by the sight of an organized closet!

I love an empty closet, the shelves bare and inviting yet full of promise. It is like a new chapter, a notebook waiting to be filled with handwritten prose. It reminds me of days gone by when I was a newlywed, when I had countless empty drawers and closets and everything was a whole new adventure. It was a time when the possibilities were endless. Anything was possible! Almost nine years and three kids later, the days of empty closets are rare.

Thank G-d.