A Revelation

I had an epiphany this morning. And I'm saying this in the nicest, most unmartyrish, unhurt way . . . my family doesn't notice or care about anything else I do – they just want to have their favorite foods available and all of their clothes cleaned and ready to wear at all times, on demand. 

It seems so obvious now that I can't believe it's taken me all these years to see the truth . . . I could clean all the bathrooms until they sparkled, take a load of recycling and make a quick trip to Target shop for some much-needed toothpaste and the kids would scowl and say "We're out of string cheese?" I could wash the drapes, sweep and mop all the floors, and run two loads of dishes and Gary would ask "Is my soccer jersey clean?" Heck I could probably grow all of our own veggies and win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and someone would be disappointed that we were out of their favorite chips.

When this notion first dawned on me as I was wiping fingerprints off the door, I felt a little grumpy. It's not easy to feel like your hard work and good deeds go overlooked, and that you're getting docked points just for not washing someone's favorite capri pants, but then I began to realize how freeing this could be for me! I can just forget that other stuff. Let it go! Unless I'm doing it for myself I don't need to do it at all! I mean, sure, I still plan to do that other stuff but I don't need to do it for THEM, I need to do it for me (because I do love a clean house and a tidy life).

But I just need to focus on two things – food and laundry (well and my design work, but I'm just talking household stuff here). I can do that!