clean sweep

I've never been very tidy.

Some friends and family would consider it an understatement. I like to blame it on being a little bit of a free spirit. I'll admit that, in the past few years, I've come to truly appreciate a clean and organized room. If she's reading this, I'm not positive that my mom is still breathing at this point. Even more lately, this whole being [read: trying to be] adult-ish and a newlywedded wife has squeezed out some responsibility in the form of tidiness.

On Sunday, we watched the Giants [and Madonna] win with Mallory, Brandon, and Nicholas [D's two brothers and our sister-in-law]. We had the best time catching up on our very different jobs and their recent vacation and every one's big dreams for the future all while loving on some puppies and eating a whole lot of guacamole. But after Eli got the keys to his shiny new convertible, I felt like we needed to go. Lurking in the back of my mind was the fact that I somehow managed to get avocado on every surface of our kitchen before rushing out the door, and it was now slowly turning into a permanent greenish brown crust on our counters. Too much detail?

I'm not OK with that feeling being a recurring experience. The feeling that we should go home and clean and have everything nice and tidy to start another busy week. I don't want those needs to hold precedent over time spent with family or friends or our church community or neighbors or one another. I want to rid myself of those worries when I have the opportunities like last night - to have precious back-to-back one-on-one time with dear friends on a Monday evening [love you Bec Griggs and Meg Hope].

So. In the spirit of not eating the bread of idleness and not letting this new [and good] habit of tidiness interfere with fleeting minutes of face time all while actually keeping the apartment enjoyably organized and guest-ready, I made a list. Surprised? I didn't think so. I love a list. Hopefully this one will balance responsibility and community [with a heavy lean to the latter].

Download your own here.

Here's to no more Saturdays spent cleaning all day because we ignored it all week. Here's to no "dirty house" anxiety while trying to enjoy real, breathing, loving people. And here's to good ol' grown up responsibility. Where did you come from?

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to call my mother and make sure she's still conscious.