Endpiece

A Little Organization

by EMMA EDERHEIMER OBERDIECK ’93

I brought my son home from college last summer after his freshman year. As he regaled me in the car with tales of the activities he was going to join in his sophomore year, I laughed to myself. I remember my sophomore year—the busiest year of my entire academic career.

I carried around a planner. If you’re old enough, you may remember them: spiral bound, two pages for every day, segmented by the half hour, with a small section of white space for extra notes. I was never without it. It was one of many books I carried to and from class. Did I have time for a study session? Maybe I could pencil it in after play practice but before the R.A. meeting . . . or after Centre Singers, but before I had to open the Norton Center for the evening Chanticleer concert . . . or after the baseball game but before the party in the quad. You get the picture. I remember my best friend, Laureen Justice McCorkle ’92, looking through the planner and questioning my sanity. Not to be deterred, I simply replied, “Why do only one or two things when I can do them all? It just takes a little organization.”

Thirty years later, I have to laugh to myself. I am definitely older. But if wisdom comes from slowing down, I’m definitely none the wiser. I may no longer have a paper planner (though it took me more than a decade to give up on them), but I’m still a planner at heart. When it was just my husband, Brian, and me, we could write on a monthly calendar hanging in our kitchen. A church meeting here. A choir practice there. A random game night with friends. Then our boys came along, and I upgraded to a large white board calendar so we could erase, make text smaller, and squeeze in just one more thing on any given day. Trumpet lessons, t-ball, Boy Scouts, play practice, robotics club. You name it, they did it. And Brian and I never slowed down with our own commitments. True story: One year at our small town’s annual festival, the five of us had so many commitments I created a color-coded spreadsheet to track every- one and their transportation and food needs. (Yes, I still get teased mercilessly over that.) Our parents consistently told us over the years how they marveled at our commitment load. “Why do only one or two things, when we can do them all?” I replied every time as my little joke. “It just takes a little organization.”

Type A? High strung? I’ve heard them all, and I own up to every one of them. I’m a planner because planning allows me to be fully present. And when I am fully present in the moment, I experience joy. Can I account for every contingency? No. But bring on the surprises and the hurdles! My organizational skills allow me to be resilient and positive, whatever comes. Case in point, in only two months this year we moved to a new home, our oldest son graduated from college and got married, our youngest son graduated from middle school, and my husband both started a new job and went back to school. Surprises and hurdles galore. But lots of joy!

And as he predicted, my middle son embarked on a sophomore year to remember with classes, jobs, and more extra-curriculars than I could imagine. He has so much to do. I marvel at his commitment load. Perhaps I should get him a planner.

Why do only one or two things, when we can do them all? It’s life. It’s a joy. It just takes a little organization.

Emma Ederheimer Oberdieck ’93 lives with her family and two golden retrievers at their lake house in Southern Indiana. She is an experience strategist and transformation lead for Digital Health & Analytics at Humana Inc. When she’s not working, she enjoys time with family and friends and singing in her church choir. Emma Ederheimer Oberdieck ’93 and her son, Daniel, now enjoying his sophomore year in college.

“Why do only one or two things, when we can do them all? It’s life. It’s a joy. It just takes a little organization.”

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