Mindfrosting

Upon requesting to my daughter (a teenager) that she tidy up her room, this is what happened. It is not pretty so be warned. She was sitting there surrounded by all manner of items from books to crumpled kleenex to cds in tipsy piles to…well, it was very, very bad. I could not see the floor, the true floor, that is. I asked her why she lets it get this way? Her answer to me was- “I am allergic to open spaces. I need this stuff around me to make me feel comfortable. I have agorophobia.” Then she looked at me with a straight face like she expected me to nod and go away.

After about ten minutes - after I stopped laughing and wiping tears from my eyes I grounded her until the room was clean. Just so you know, as I was laughing, her face was a’twitch at trying not to laugh or even smile. This kid should never play card games for money.

As she was working on her room I had some great down-time creating a little photo gallery website for one of my nephews. He has been taking some neat shots around the Pacific Northwest and Bellingham area. If you’d like to see some of his pictures the site is going up here: http://jasonbanks.clydebanks.com

Ok, so update on the room. It is now passable, but not superb. If it stays clean, or at least some of the floor visible for 24 hours it will be amazing. I wonder if there is any type of cure for “messy room agorophobia”?