Junk Drawer

In our kitchen, we have a little spot, a nook almost, where we keep our laptop, some school papers and a scattering of pens and pencils.  The space is an extension of our kitchen counters but it has been design to act as a desk, with a space for a chair and room for your knees.  To the left of the "knee hole" is a column of three drawers.  The bottom drawer is large enough to accommodate files and has all the necessary hardware for that purpose.  The other two drawers, however, are just drawers.  Without a definite purpose, these drawers, especially the top one, have become junk drawers.

Last night, my wife was looking for a pencil sharpener for my oldest son to keep in his school backpack.  I was at the kitchen desk when her quest brought her to the top drawer.  Apparently, she had not inspected the drawer recently, for as she rummaged, she seemed surprised (or maybe disgusted) at the amount of seemingly useless junk occupying that space.

The search for the sharpener quickly became secondary as she began sorting through the piles of papers, cords, coins, restaurant cards, etc..  I pointed out a pencil sharpener in the mix.  She set it aside and continued sifting through the mess.  Like an anthropologist at a dig, she examined the artifacts and determined that most of it was from 2007.  That is the same year we remodeled the kitchen and had the drawer built.  The junk had apparently been there from the beginning.

As I looked in the drawer, I knew I was guilty of depositing much of the junk in the drawer.  Over the next hour or so, I was quizzed about the relevance or usefulness of various items.  The line between junk and trash can be very fine.  Many items were thrown away, others were merely relocated.  At one point, she handed me a pile of stuff that was clearly mine and told me to put it somewhere.  That's what I had done before, I had put it in the junk drawer.  I took the pile and wandered around the house until I found a new place to stash my stuff.  I suppose at some point in the future, I'll need to move it again.

The drawer is now neat and orderly.  I don't think she bothered to look at its neighbor just below it.  That drawer isn't quite as messy but it's getting there.  Having everything tidy is a nice concept, but I happen to think that junk drawers serve a purpose.  There are things we accumulate that don't fit in any category but junk.  Yet, they are not trash.  They are the tiny plastic pencil sharpeners, the paperclips, the nine-volt battery and the random penny.  They need to go somewhere.  Putting them all in one drawer makes them easier to locate on those rare occasions when you need them.