The Rambling Page

Coffee Purge
By Ruchi Koval

I really, really, really like having a clean house.
 
In fact, the people who live in my house can attest to the fact that almost nothing makes me happier than when they clean said house. Which is one of the reasons why I just love Passover: the house is so clean; everything is fresh and new. We take out the Passover stuff and clean out the drawers. It just has this incredible sense of freshness.
 
Now that we’re a week out, I have put away all the Passover things, cleaned up my Passover area, and brought back out all my usual weekday housewares. But the purge-and-clean fest has not ended. Oh, no. For me, I’m just getting started!
 
If there’s one thing that makes me happier than a clean house, it’s getting rid of things. I call it my “occasional purge.”
 
Sometimes, it’s a “mug purge.” How do mugs magically proliferate and have babies in my cabinet? Sometimes, it’s a “vase purge.” Where did all these vases come from and how many can one person reasonably use in one lifetime anyway?
 
Anyway, this week it was a “coffee purge.” You see, I don’t drink coffee. But you know who does? My kids. And do you think they drink plain old plebeian instant coffee? Oh, no. It’s either Starbucks or bust.
 
But if they’re going to make it at home, it’s going to involve all kinds of strange-looking paraphernalia, such as, and this list may not be complete, French presses, funnels, filters, pour-overs, and, I kid you not, seven different bags of coffee grounds, plus other containers full of other coffee grounds.
 
Now, let’s be clear:  it absolutely eludes me to understand how any human being could possibly use all these different type of gourmet coffee. I mean, beans are beans, right? (Obviously wrong.)
 
I don’t get it, but I saw my kids starting to get nervous when I started my coffee purge. The messages started coming in on our family chat.
 
“Wait, Mom, you’re not getting rid of the funnel, right? Mom, you’re hanging onto all those coffee beans, right?”
 
Yes yes, my little dear ones, don’t you fret. I’m not getting rid of anything. But my children know that sometimes the word “organize” is code for “purge.” Fortunately, I value my life too much to actually throw out any of this paraphernalia, so, lucky for them.
 
But the whole experience got me thinking. Why do we hang onto all these old things that we don’t even use? At what point do they stop serving us? How much garbage is cluttering up our minds and our hearts, that is producing little or no value? What do we want to throw out? What can we consolidate? What do we need to put in a box and lock it and only open it on occasion?
 
Because there’s probably nothing that I love more than a clean, organized house, other than a clean, organized mind and heart.

Shabbat shalom,

Ruchi Koval