Cluttered Surface--Cluttered Mind????

   Cluttered Surface--Cluttered Mind??

      I awoke this morning telling Jack that I wanted to accomplish three things today-- clean off the kitchen island, clear the dining room table, and and put the Christmas boxes down in the basement from where they sit now at the top of the stairs.His response was along the gist of why bother.  So I said I was feeling guilty about the clutter.  His argument there was it will just be back to what it is in two days and there is still enough room to eat.  Then he proceeded to tell me  his stance on this matter.
     

• Eccentric people never have clean surfaces.  
      
•   Never get anything repaired at a shop where the surfaces are clear.
• Clean surfaces means you  haven't got anything else to do. 
                 
• Don't let anyone straighten up your surfaces because you'll never find anything.
   
• We can find exactly what we want in the clutter.
   
• You lose ideas when there's nothing on the surface.

      I was born with a cluttered mind.  I learned to organize and can multi-task with the best.  I always have at least 6 different projects going on, of varied types. Right today I'm  experimenting on a new recipe,the  bread is  rising, a couple of musucial instruments are sitting out to  be practiced on, there two or three things being worked on at the sewing table, an art project is in the bedroom, some herbal remedy in the downstairs kitchen is being concocted, and two garden projects need to be readied before spring arrives.  Of course this will span out over two or three weeks, some even a couple of months. 
      If that wasn't enough, I married another eccentric person who also has "projects" going all over the house and pole barn, like setting up his 5 computers on a network, working on his editing machine, recording what he calls archival TV programs, making a "better"  wood shed, running antennas all over the deck for the ham radio,  devising a new corn drying system for the corn burning stove and setting up video cameras at each corner of the deck.  The list for him is longer than mine.    But Jack has been able to adjust to the eccentric label better than me.  Even though I have been ever thus, no surface staying clear for more than two days, I've always had some kind of guilt over this.  He maintains the above listed axioms and says "Who cares."  Nearly all of our friends have clean surfaces.  You can drop by their house and the surfaces are clean.  We , on the other hand, need a  couple of days' notice to have room for them to come for dinner.  Not that I can't cook something up at a moment's notice.  Maybe that's why I like to entertain in the summer.  I tend not to clutter the picnic table. 
       Is there a genetic factor involved here?  Both sides of our families have eccentrics, collectors, and absolutely plenty of cluttery surface people.  I know for a fact that the "clean surface" people who are in the family just shake their heads at the mess, some try to clean up and help unclutter, but most just accept it, and shut the door to the workshop, bedroom, or craft room.  But when two of these minds are married to each other, such as Jack and me,  who is there to clear off things?  Do we even care?  What will our children do with these projects, clippings, magazines, instruments, music, and wires when we pass on.  Well, I won't be there anyway, so I think I'll go work on that garden project today and not clear off the table.