Nature of the Beast

I've been helping Anne a bit with her garage cleanup. She often comments somewhat wistfully about the orderliness in my home. I never know what to say, but the other day, I found a photo that says it all.


That's my family at a beach near Montreal. I think it was our very first beach experience. My sister sits smiling beside my mother while my younger brother looks on. And that's me in the background, organizing and tidying our beach spot. I was only 5 years old and already I was a neat freak. While my family was frolicking and enjoying the sand and water, I was incessantly shaking the sand off, re-spreading the towels and putting our shoes neatly in rows. I kept doing that until my father told me to stop and go play.

-MO