As a child, I loooooved Easter egg hunts! The possibilities were excitingly endless. Colored eggs and chocolate bunnies could be found in places where eggs and chocolates do not belong. Every conspicuously blocked corner in the house or bushy shrub in the garden promised hidden treasures. It was so much fun! And of course, I only expected delightful finds.
Now, guess what happened when I noticed that something was out of place or surprisingly different at other times of the year or in different circumstances? Yep. I was a liiiittle less appreciative. Very rarely (if ever) did I experience encounters with the “unusual” as fun or as a precursor to pleasant surprises. If anything, I found it alarming.
I never understood why this was until the tables were turned. One day, instead of being alarmed, I found myself to be the cause for alarm.
It was when my American born stepdaughter caught sight of the condition of my closet. What she saw gave her a strong enough reason to warily take my husband aside:
“Dad,” she whispered, “did you know that her socks and underwear are all sorted by color? And her T-shirts are folded like they are on display? She is totally OCD!”
“Sweetheart,” my husband replied to her unperturbed. “That is not OCD. That is German. They like it orderly. Makes it easy to find things. And trust me, at my age, it is REALLY helpful to find things!”
Since I grew up in Germany, I can vouch that culturally-based differences are not relegated to remote continents. For eons we called our Mediterranean neighbors lazy for taking a siesta in the afternoon. Come to find out, it is a tradition going back hundreds of years when air-conditioning did not exist (and to this day does not exist in most Mediterranean houses). In order to adapt to the high temperatures during the summertime, working is often suspended during the hottest part of the day and resumes once it cools down in the evening hours. (Almost) everybody goes home, has lunch, and takes a nap. They don’t sleep more, nor do they work less than other Europeans. They just split rest and work time into two periods.
Tourists also tend to sniff at the alleged lack of cleanliness in Spanish restaurants. There is, however, a method to the mess. If you are new in town and wonder where to stop for a bite to eat, you don’t have to rely on Yelp or misleading advertisements. You just look at the floor. The more olive stones, napkins, and toothpicks you see, the more people have eaten there. Hence, the better the food.
And the moral is … Note to Self: Sometimes it’s neither disorder, laziness or littering, nor is it cause for concern. It’s just different, and quite often smart at that. Just not necessarily at first glance. The good news is, if I dare to take another look at the basket of different, I can enjoy an all-year-around, gratifying Easter egg hunt. How cool is that! 😉
Happy Easter everyone!
Brigitte Schneider
aka Ms. OCD-DCD-ABC
Copyright © 2018, Brigitte Schneider. If you wish to quote text from this article contact the author by leaving a comment.
