I'm not Neat, OK?

This morning I have been playing with paper: specifically, crepe paper. I like to play with paper. Go on, admit it. I bet you like to play with paper too.

I said I LIKE to play with paper. My paper creations? They're usually as good as the next person's, if the next person happened to have ten thumbs. I can't seem to do neat. I couldn't do neat in second grade, when my lowest grade was in handwriting, and I couldn't do neat in sixth grade, when I was supposed to make a science notebook: my drawings of amoebas and cells and such were accurate, but they were messy. I erased a lot.

But you don't have to be good with something to enjoy it, do you?
I was stuffing crepe paper into gift bags this morning. Each bag contained a small token for the founding church members who are still alive. (Our church was founded in 1955.) In each bag was a little token for each of the founding members of our church: those good souls who have been members since 1955. The crepe paper was so pretty: red, a dark forest green, and a glowing royal blue. With gift bags, you can be a messy person and still be okay.

When I was in second grade, we had a "debate." The question: "Is neatness a necessity?" We all knew which side would win, of course. Would a group of elementary teachers actually consider the possibility that neatness was nice,that neat papers are easier to grade, but neat is not the same as correct.

I'd rather have correct.