By Carol Fisher-Linn
For as far back as I can recall, on or about New Years’ Day, I clean out a desk. Why? You might ask. If you go online you can find a national calendar for every day of the year being celebrated as national something or the other day, anything from national whipped cream (or cuddle up) day on January 6, to national bobblehead or static electricity day on January 9th. I was delighted when I found that there is, indeed, a National Clean off your Desk Day celebrated on January 11th.
Now, the task off cleaning off a desk may seem simple enough if you housekeep on a daily or weekly basis. Or it may be spectacularly daunting, if the top of your desk looks like Einstein’s desk which was captured in a photo immediately following his death at Princeton in 1955.
For me, a fun way to attack the project is to consider it a treasure hunt. Who knows what you will find at the bottom of a pile, or tucked into a corner of a drawer? In fact, one year, while cleaning out a small drawer in my own project, I found a business card from someone I did not know, stuck upright into the edge of the back of the drawer. I forget now what the hand-written message said, but I searched my memory and did remember finding it stuck into the screen door off the front porch of my house in the village sometime in the past. Apparently, I had casually met the gentlemen whose card it was and he found where I lived, leaving a note saying he would like us to meet again. It was the late 80’s, people were not scary suspicious or I was more trusting. Regardless, I thought it was charming and called him. He was one of our Canadian ski-loving brethren and although much time had passed, he indeed remembered leaving that note for me. The phone call turned into a very pleasant relationship with not only him but with his entire tribe of Canadian friends whom I fell to love and enjoyed spending time with even long after our relationship had ended.
I asked our editor what long lost item she might have found in a desk. Her find made me smile wide and filled me with nostalgia. It was Hank Dubey’s recorded tape, Top ‘O The Hill. Readers who have been around Ellicottville for over twenty years will surely remember Hank, who filled any room with his outsized Texan presence. He was editor of the newspaper Special* E*Fects. Hank made us all laugh at his antics in print and in town. Remember He Says She Says? He famously often got the final word and the best laugh. This silly, happy memory, all because of desk cleaning.
Now, while a clean space inspires us, helps us be more efficient and gives us the benefit of improved productivity, it has the bonus of giving us unexpected serenity. An octogenarian friend and his wife moved to Michigan this December. For the past year they went through the process of cleaning and getting rid of superfluous items. Funny thing about desks – it was one of the last pieces to be totally emptied. In it sat, for decades, two doctoral theses (his and hers) that they never could part with. There they were – taunting him on that almost empty desk – drawers open like big empty yawns. Perceived “keepsakes” are like that sometimes. They almost dare us to send them to the dump. Undeterred, my friend bravely did exactly that. Not without pause, trepidation, or second and third thoughts … but finally, out they went. Here’s the interesting thing that happened afterward. Totally unexpectedly, he was suddenly filled with an overwhelming feeling of relief! The fifty-year-old relics had turned into a fifty-pound albatross; they had originally promised luck and good fortune but after fifty-some years they were feeling like something very heavy around their necks. Ahhhh!
So, yes, I encourage you toward a fresh start, a clean surface, and organized drawers. Be systematic – remove, clean, replace, shred, toss. Send forgotten photos to their subjects with a short note. You never know whose life will get a lift from something in your drawers. Take down the old calendar and replace with 2025 as you smile at the year of possibilities ahead of you.