I was going to clean up the room that I call my studio. I really had good intentions. I also had the time, since I was on Spring Break. However… it didn’t happen. Until tonight. When it sort of happened. Partially happened. Well, something happened.

I feel like I did a lot. I sorted through stacks and stacks of papers. You know the stuff I’m talking about, I’m sure. There are statements from my health insurance company, assuring me that they are not bills, there are high school report cards of my son’s from five years ago, there are mortgage statements from four lenders ago, there’s a stack of pay-stubs from my employer, sadly not showing much change over the years. There are SO MANY PAPERS!

I decided that I no longer need credit card statements from five years ago. I no longer need a home warranty for a home I sold a while back. I no longer need billing statements from my son’s orthodontist (who I think has retired). I no longer need discharge instructions from a hospital visit three years ago. It’s time to be free of all those papers. It’s time to warm up the shredder.

Shredding papers is such a permanent act, but one that gives me great satisfaction. Once the paper hits the blades, there’s no turning back. Whatever you’ve fed into that machine is now confetti, never to be read again.

I like the idea of all those words, all those statements and bills and records and reports all mixing together and jumbling up inside the belly of the shredder. I imagine it to be some sort of demented corporate party in there, all the letters released from their original duties. They are free, no longer confined to sharing dosing instructions or charges to the grocery store, gas station, and Target. No longer shouting out my name and address for just anyone to read. Once they get into that shredder, they no longer know their original mission. It’s just gone. Like the pile of papers I fed into the machine a few minutes ago.

It was quite an effort, but I’m glad at least part of the task has been completed. As for the rest of the room? Maybe during summer break. We’ll see.