Canned Beans in Nooks and Crannies

My mom had OCD before there was even a name for it.  When I was younger I thought it was the most annoying behavior and as I grew up I adopted the opposite way of living. Well, not actually the complete opposite because that would make me a hoarder of everything with no place to walk in my own home.  I became less concerned with every single owner's manual, store receipt, beautifully ironed everything, cabinets that had their own map of their layout, etc. 

There was a file file cabinet in my mom's 'office' where she even filed every upc code from every package of any type of food she purchased.  She even kept candy wrappers because you never knew when Hershey would office a special prize if you had enough of them to send in.  The thing is, my mom knew where everything was and when asked for something she was able to produce it immediately. 

Aunt Karen and me! 1961

I never adopted this habit and I am sure my own kids can attest to it. Perhaps it was because we tend to want to be the opposite of our parents when we first begin our adult lives.  Perhaps it was because my mom did everything and I never learned how to clean a house or wash a load of laundry before I got married. I could keep wondering this forever.  

One of the earlier signs that something just wasn't right with my mom's brain was when my Aunt Karen came to visit one summer day.  Karen noticed that my mom had moved some things in her house, which was not my mom.  I don't remember what she was looking for, but she stumbled upon cans of kidney beans in almost every cabinet, night stand, end table, and closet she opened.  Knowing my mom's obsession with 'everything in its place', she immediately called me out of concern.  When she teasingly asked my mom about them, my mom shrugged and said she didn't know how they got there but then just went about her day as if there weren't 48 cans of beans spread throughout her house.

My mom March 2003

Yesterday I went to get a can of beans for my soup.  I searched everywhere where canned beans should be.  Hmmmm...I found a can of kidney beans in the closet of Nora's room.  Hmmmmmm.....makes me think I should write this one down, just in case!