Just housework

The order of the day seemed to be housekeeping. It certainly wasn’t flashy, glamorous or fascinating. Not the kind of thing you anxiously wait to relate to friends when you get back to work on Monday.
“How was your weekend?”
“It was fabulous.”
“Really, what did you do?” They wait expectantly to hear of the wonderful outings you may have experienced so they might share in the possibility of doing them too.
“I cleaned up!”
“Oh,” they say dully as they turn and walk away.

I imagine they can only think I am crazy (which they should have know already) or am the messiest, slob ever to be so excited about picking up. But that conversation won’t happen, thank goodness. If the conversation comes up about the weekend I will probably say, nothing special…or have to think because I usually can’t remember…yeah, that exciting most of the time.

So the work on picking up things around the house really wasn’t too bad if not flashy or exciting. I will spare you the details of the fabulous cleaners I used on the tiles or the time spent mopping the floors. I won’t go into the amount of dust that collects in small amounts of time and the oddly deformed, shriveled thing I found behind the sofa (I don’t think it was ever alive, but still).

It’s amazing the amount of time can go into something as mundane as cleaning up. You think you are going to breeze right through something as simple as vacuuming and you find yourself almost to the end of the day scrubbing random spots not just on the area you were vacuuming but on all rooms with carpeting. You mosey through the house with a scowl and a spray bottle of carpet cleaner ready to draw on all unsuspecting stains. “You’ve lived here too long. Get out of town by sundown, there is a new sheriff in town.” Luckily most vanished by the end of the day and the cleaner was holstered to use another day.

So not very exciting but sometimes that’s okay. Actually it’s very okay because at the end of the day, when all things are wiped clean and in order, I find the ability to hear the words that are sometimes more important than flashy, glamorous, or fascinating. It’s not even a matter of hearing the words, but feeling them. And that’s what happened when all things cleaning were done.

I could hear and feel the words comforting, soothing and calming. Maybe not as much fun as the other words but it had a way of coming from around and within. It was a feeling of balance and unexpected relief.

Wow. A little elbow grease and I sound like I’ve been to a day-spa. I saved a fortune in fees and the house is cleaned too! If anyone asks about my weekend...No, I don't think so, better to stick with nothing special.


TT