Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Gratitude

(Photo of my front yard this afternoon, posted for no reason at all.)
There's a small cabinet next to my stove. Yesterday the paper towels rolled off the top, nestling among the dust bunnies on the floor behind the cabinet. This was momentarily irritating because, according to my housecleaning ethics, I was honor-bound to pull out the offending furniture and thoroughly clean the exposed area. I was resenting every nanosecond of the experience, when I had a flashback.

Spring Cleaning. When my brother and I were kids, we had to help Mom with spring cleaning. She cleaned the house from top to bottom. Everything pulled out of drawers and washed or cleaned. The drawers cleaned inside and outside and new liner installed. Bureaus without the drawers dusted. Walls washed. Floors. Drapes, curtains and sheers. Closets. The kitchen. It was no fun for any of us, and I worried that when I grew up, I would be burdening myself with this ritual as The Price of Being a Grownup.

I got over it. I'm so glad I'm a grownup. I still have to do tedious chores, but any obsessive compulsive behavior is my own. Did I mention she observed Fall Cleaning as well?

2 Comments:

Blogger lemmie said...

Hi Leslie,
I'm not sure if I've met you at the Yarn Lounge, but Sangeeta always tells me how much fun you are! I really liked this post as I too had some flashbacks to my mother and her obsessive compulsive nature to clean the house each spring and fall. I sometimes laugh when I talk to her on the phone and she's cleaning her closet :) I can't remember the last time I've cleaned a closet! Thank god for knitting ;)

Cheers,
Susan

4:22 AM  
Blogger Sangeeta said...

Leslie is FUN and CLEAN!! YAY!!

7:43 AM  

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