How children kick my OCD into full throttle....

As a mom, home childcare provider and grandma, I have always had lots of toys, manipulatives, etc. throughout my home. That being said, of course I spend a lot of time picking up, and keeping these things organized. One thing I have noticed about myself, I go crazy if a piece or part to something is missing, and spend lots of time searching until I find that missing piece or part to complete that item. Well, today I had not only the daycare children, but also all 4 grandchildren, which means, after they were all gone, I had a LOT of cleaning up to do. This is where the nightmare began....once it was all reorganized and cleaned up, I was left with this....actually there were also two others missing pieces, but you get the point.....

 

 

So I proceeded to do what I always do, start going through every single bin, basket, toybox or container that could possibly be hiding the items that I am losing my mind over. When my head would start hurting, I would walk away, and do something else...until it bugged me again, then I was right back at it. And you need to understand, this time it was exactly nine pieces that were missing, but in all reality, if it were just one, I would do the same procedure, because think about it....they cannot just disappear! The item or items HAVE to be somewhere! That is my mindset, and personal nightmare. I searched off and on for 3 hours, to no avail and at this point am sitting in the middle of one of the daycare rooms just looking around at everything and not understanding what could have happened....that is when I saw the one thing that though I had put it back where it belonged, I had not completely searched every little hiding place inside....

 

 

 

 

It was a miracle...or not, lol, but at least I could see there were multiple puzzle pieces hiding there, now I just prayed, LITERALLY, that there were 9 puzzle pieces so that my nightmare would end.

 

 

 

 

I could hear the Hallelujahs in my head, I felt all of the pressure leaving my body, I smiled as I placed every single piece back in its rightful place. I thought of the adorable children in my life, and how one of them thought it was fun to take these simple 9 pieces and stick them in the VERY LAST PLACE I WOULD LOOK.  The world was whole again, my night could go on and I could enjoy and relax finally.

 

 

I have never been diagnosed as having OCD, but I kinda just assume it now, lol!