A little bit of OCD?

Posted on November 1, 2008
Filed Under Main |

A few weeks ago, I sat outside and glanced over at the neighbor’s laundry hanging out on their line.  My bored mind noticed that she had used the same color pegs for each item on the line.  So, for example, a t-shirt was held up by two blue pegs and a pair of jeans was held up by two yellow pegs.  No mixing colors.

Coincidence?  Perhaps.  So I looked next time she hung out laundry and, sure enough, the same pattern was repeated.

But today, her laundry looks slightly amiss:
 

As you can see, she used all blue pegs to begin with, then she must have run out.  She switched to yellow.  But then strangely, the very last item - a facecloth, I believe - is held up by one blue peg and one yellow.  Did she run out?  Is that last item driving her crazy?  Does my noticing all this mean anything about me?

Including the word OCD in the title of this, I am not suggesting that this woman is obssessive or compulsive.  But OCD definitely intrigues me because I believe that pretty much everyone has a bit of it.  I remember, as a child, feeling the need to make a slight sound when clearing my throat.  I always felt this urge whilst sitting quietly in front of the TV.  I’m not sure why I did it; it was simply an urge that I had to satisfy.  It drove my parents nuts!

I don’t do that anymore, but I think that we all have things that we did or still do that if people knew we did, would make them think we were a bit cooky.  Some of us double check and some of us wash our hands and worry about germs.  I feel very fortunate that I’ve never had anything that I felt very obssessed about.  I imagine that that can be overwhelming and extremely tiring.

The washing line next door just made me think about what this woman is thinking.  Does she simply like having things in order and has hardly realized that she seeks out the same color pegs for each piece of laundry?  Or is the laundry just the tip of the iceberg.  I don’t know her.  Maybe one day I will.

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