Living With A Perfectionist

Yes, it is true. I am a perfectionist and it is not merely work related. I am rather odd and fastidious (click the link to look it up) about my placement of the various objects in my life. To prove my point, I’d like to confab about my undergarment storage methods. If you believe undergarments should not be blogged about, stop reading.

I have spoken before about my love for Merona undershirts, but I did not cover the way in which I fill my clothing receptacles. I, at most, delved into a small discussion of professionalism and my impression of the aforementioned tees.

Current

I believe in separation of brands and KINDS when storing undergarments. The reason I mention the separation of both brand and KIND is that a brand can have more than one kind. In order to avoid philosophical debate, I will speak no further on my beliefs of separation of brands and KINDS. It was simply a statement. Socks are divided by brand and pattern (which is equal to kind). Each sock is in its own stack in my sock drawer based on its pattern. Grey bottoms and grey heels are cut off from the plain white Starter socks. (Side note: I also do not like my socks rolled, I require that they be neatly laid, one on on top of the other so as not to stretch out the elastic at the top.) Likewise, old faded Hanes are excluded from my new grey banded Hanes (same brand different kind, thus proving the aforementioned philosophical debate). On top of the preceding distinctions, Fruit of the Looms are separated from both KINDS of Hanes. Not only are my socks and undies (since this is a casual blog I can say that, right?) apart, but also my undershirts are separated. The Hanes Round-neck (the better of my two KINDS of Hanes) are separated from the Hanes V-neck (the lesser of ALL Hanes KINDS) and they are both split from my beloved Meronas.

Childhood

Ok, so that proves that I am currently fastidious, but you ask, “John, have you always been a fastidial (I made that up, but you catch the drift) perfectionist.” Yes…yes I have. An account from my childhood should leave no doubt in your mind. My sister and I each had a pack of mini-markers that we used each Sunday in church and other times during our childhood. For some reason, call her crazy, my mom let my sister use my pack of markers unbeknownst to me. Well, only unbeknownst until I opened my pack the next Sunday (to color in the bulletin) only to find that the blue was in the brown’s spot and the red was in the purple’s spot and the green was in the orange’s spot and…well, you get the picture. Not only did I have a specific place in my marker package for each marker, but I had the blueprint memorized. I was somewhere between the ages of 4 and 7 years old when this happened.

My Wife and My Quirks

I say all this (both current and childhood) to prove that I am fastidious (I dub fastidious the Word of the Day) and a perfectionist. So how does my wife cope with my fastideism (again made up)? Despite the fact that she is completely not fastidious and not a perfectionist (in other words, she is really messy), she handles my quirks like a pro. Each time she does laundry, she folds my undies into a stack starting with old-faded, then grey-banded, and finally Fruit of the Looms. She carefully places each sock into a pile with its like pattern and NEVER rolls them. Pretty amazing, huh? I was just thinking about this tonight as I was putting my laundry away in my armoire (she doesn’t put the laundry away because I am too particular about the drawers and order in which each brand and kind is placed into the said drawers). As I thought about my quirkiness and my wife’s willingness to support it, it made me wonder what habits and or quirks you might have. That is your assignment. Leave a comment with your weirdest quirk or if it is too weird to publish on the internet, drop me a line.