Details

Sometimes, maybe even a lot of the time, when people hear that we are "poly," the very first question(s) that they ask (if they aren't trying to be polite) is where/how/with whom does everyone sleep? We often duck those question(s), figuring it really isn't anyone else's business, but the truth of the matter is, that when it comes to the complexities of LIVING poly, who sleeps where, and with whom, and when is simple compared with FILES...

I know. Files are not particularly interesting or sexy. We're talking folders and labels and cabinets and little funny plastic tabs and alphabetical order here. But trust me, when the detail work of establishing and maintaining a viable filing system for household records is not attended to, all HELL breaks loose. It becomes difficult and then impossible to pay bills, manage finances, check medical records, or make a whole host of important life decisions when the paper work needed to document a family's legal and financial dealings is in disarray. It is just essential, in today's world to be able to get hands on the papers that pertain to assets and decisions and transactions -- and to do it expeditiously.

When you put multiple adults together, as we have, you also put multiple records together. Our multiple records comprise the financial and historical details of lengthy and eventful lifetimes (we are none of us youngsters). There are "important papers" that simply must be kept with some care and some sort of organizational strategy. The reality is, that when we first got together, the part of the paperwork that was "possessed by" Master and T was being newly incorporated into their relatively newly forming household, and the part of the paperwork that was "possessed by" my part of the family had just been uprooted and dragged across the continent from Colorado. At first, we maintained it in two separate households when we saw ourselves as a "quad." After my divorce, we began, slowly, to merge the two households, and the FILES began gradually to meld. It was a slow and not entirely conscious process...

Frankly, FILES should not be allowed to organize themselves without conscious intervention from someone with a plan. From my limited observations, this does not work well...

At any rate, this summer, I decided, finally, after struggling against the kluge that our mismatched filing systems had become, that it was time for a total overhaul -- time to establish (at long last) The Heron Clan FILING System... May we have a drum roll, please?

I know, I know. This does not get anyone's panties wet, or make any dick's hard. Oh well. Sorry. I am simply thrilled. I have worked, and sweated, and talked to myself for days. I have labeled and alphebetized and cursed and muttered (and hauled a significant pile of junk to the recyle bin). It is done and I am well satisfied. Even more important, so is Master. We have a system that I am sure will make it possible for us to function well and efficiently and sanely. No more piles of unfiled, loose, unidentified crap. Our stuff will be where we can find it.

Small service, I know. Still. It is good. I know this.

Details...

swan