The summer of 1957 I was almost six years old…I was a Fall baby…September… one of those Virgos that likes everything in place and everything in it’s place…a perfectionist.
Just so you know most of the perfectionist part is slightly worn out. I no longer scrub the kitchen floor everyday…or double check that all the hangers are facing the right direction along with the clothing hanging facing right. Mostly my money is helter skelter in my billfold…it doesn’t all face the correct way. I still have a need to clean the kitchen after a meal…some people can stack dishes for the next day…not me. I also have a sick compulsion to face all my can goods exactly so in the pantry.
It is hard to be perfect. I no longer strive for perfection. Perfection is exhausting.
Most days I like dogs better than people, I think that was probably true for most of my life.
Those years 1955-1958 in Minnesota were horrible farming years, Army Worms and drought took their toll. We were lucky my Dad had a job, but it was still difficult for me to leave home and the farm for the whole summer.
As I grow older, I am not nearly the perfectionist I used to be. I still keep an organized kitchen, cans facing the same way etc. This is a sweet photo of you. Pin curls always remind me of mother. She did her own and a few of the neighbor ladies.
ReplyDeleteMorning Connie, Glad no more perfection for you, it is exhausting. Love the picture, so cute and yes, dogs are better to be around I think.Blessings Francine.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you on liking dogs better than people!
ReplyDeleteA lot of my persnickety habits have gone by the wayside as I got older. I agree ablaut liking dogs better than people. Dogs don't disagree with you and they love you no matter what. You sure were a cutie.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been hard for anybody, losing your companion like that. I am a fall baby, too, but in the summer of 1957 I was in high school wearing gym uniform shorts. Nowhere near as cute as yours. :-)
ReplyDeleteI gave up that perfection thing a long time ago, and you are right...it's very exhausting. I'm with you on the kitchen. I can't stand to leave it until everything is put away, wiped down, and sparkling.
ReplyDeleteGosh, how I relate what you've posted! I'm a virgo too. I don't scrub and clean house every day now, but all my clothes hangers still have to hang facing the same direction and clothes facing right. Keeps me busy turning cartons in the frig and cans in the cabinets...Poppy sits them in backwards. I went through sad times too growing up with animals...sad times. I like dogs best too!
ReplyDeleteAnother September Virgo here! I can still be picky about things, but I don't have the ability to deal with it, now!
ReplyDeleteLots of Virgos here. I too am a Virgo and have the same compulsions. I put my spices in the cupboard in alphabetical order and hangers all hanging right, towels folded exactly the same way, canned goods facing front in order. Thank goodness, like the rest of you, I have mellowed with age and it no longer runs my life so much. :)
ReplyDeletePerfectionist can really get bent out of shape. I'm the opposite and need to up my game. I do not organize anything. I finished high school in 1957.
ReplyDeleteThe puppy looks as if it is enjoying the attention. I agree--perfectionism is exhausting. I'm on a big spring cleaning binge (before company comes next week) and I'm wearing myself out. It's just so hard deciding what NOT to do!
ReplyDeleteMe I straiten window blinds any place I go. I was in the doctors exam room (for what was like hours) She came in and I was fixing the blinds, she said do you need something for obsessive compulsive behavior.
ReplyDeleteI remember my dad telling that he and his brother were sent up to Blue Earth to help out on a farm as the farm was doing so badly in Iowa. I am not sure what that farm had to make money but maybe it was livestock. My dad would borrow money in the 50's to get him through the winter and then reborrow to keep food on the table. or to make farm payment. He was almost a year behind as he reborrowed to pay backwards.
ReplyDeleteEw..."dealt with" sounds so ominous...
ReplyDeleteIt's okay to be "perfect" in some of those ways...some things just plain make sense to do that way...whether you're a Virgo or not.
Great photo. Dogs mean so much to kids. I'll bet you remember every one that you had as I do. First one named Wiggles.
ReplyDeleteI still have all my pantry cans lined up, organized, and faced...my money usually faces the same way...my ketchup bottle is clean...countertops wiped down...I think those habits formed when I worked in grocery stores and as a waitress--LOL! Am an aires, but maybe I'm a wanna-be-virgo.
ReplyDeleteI had the stick-straight white-blonde hair and was familiar with pin curls, too. I was better at making pin curls than my mother (my pin curls were very uniform, as you may suspect, with no loose, straight ends sticking out) so I learned to do my own. But then my mother forced me to do hers and my sister's, too. Sometimes being a perfectionist makes your arms very tired--LOL!
I share some of your habits, especially hangers In the closet - little soldiers all facing the same direction.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Capricorn but I had my perfectionistic ways which stood me well in computer science but when I could no longer keep all the balls in the air I got very sick and I 've never been the same since! I guess God took things in his/her own hands when I didn't "listen up" and actually...I've never been happier. I'm a slob but I'm a happy slob! LOL!
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