Happy Moment #40: Putting OCD To Good Use

Most folks know that I work part-time at a local quilt shop one or two days a week. I love working there because (1) this is a job that I don't take home with me and worry about (unlike my "real" job); (2) I get an employee discount on sewing stuff, and (3) I work with amazing artists and people there. But working with bolts and bolts of fabric has also introduced me to another reason that I love working there. A few months ago, one of my managers asked me to straighten a spot in our store that we call "the color wall" -- it is a tone-on-tone collection of colors ranging from yellows all the way down to blacks and browns. As you can guess, this area can get so messy with folks pulling bolts in and out as they work to finding the perfect color combination for whatever project that they are working on.

But I discovered something the first time that I tackled the somewhat onerous task of tidying up this wall. I like it! It was fun to pull the messy bolts from the shelving units, figure out where different colors belong, and then rearrange the fabric into straight rows. I didn't think to take a "before" picture of the my latest "attack" on this area a few nights ago but here is the end result:

I know that a job like this doesn't do much to work towards world peace (or even to help others write more effectively like I do in my regular life), but there is something therapeutic and satisfying about taming this fabric and making it look pretty for customers (and I do sweat a lot!). It makes me happy to be useful -- and I also know that at my "real job" at SWIC that I often don't see the changes in my students in quite the same way as I can see the changes to the shelves at the fabric store when I am cleaning up and tidying. Any of the OCD tendencies that I have in me welcome those queit evenings at the store touching, arranging, and tidying fabric!