Cordless Handheld Vacuum

Some of us really need to have our spaces clean, it is just who we are. I have come to accept that it is my hang up to have to have everything in its place and I try my best not to inflict my compulsion on everyone else that surrounds me that does not feel the need to be tidy.  I keep my area of the world as I see fit and it is fine if no one else subscribes to the same belief system. With age a certain amount of wisdom descends upon you, I wasn’t always quite as accepting.

I have a rather large brood a six pack to be exact.  Five girls and one lonely boy make up the six pack. They range in age from 29 to 16. When the 29 year old was 16, I was a completely different parent. I was lets say regimented, I had to be I was clearly out numbered. Everyone was up and at em early Saturday morning to clean. We divided tasks and chores according to age and ability and handed out the cleaning supplies, a good portion of the day was dedicated to cleaning, deep cleaning. My oldest child could push a vacuum with the best of them by the time she was 8. We scrubbed and scoured, swept and mopped, vacuumed and dusted the day away. They hated it and I, well I adored a clean home.

Three of the six pack are married, they are wonderful strong women college educated, three of them moms with children of their own, they are all four homeowners with beautifully kept homes. Sometimes only sometimes I feel  a bit bad for instilling my “everything has a place motto” in them because they appear weary. They have careers and husbands and family demands and they follow the Saturday ritual to a tee. I try now to tell them that it is ok to let stuff go a bit, no one is checking, they can relax a while and no one will notice, but I did my job well, they wear themselves thin making sure everything is in its place.

I am a different parent now, whether through self discovery or exhaustion I am not sure.  I like to think self discovery has taught me a thing or two, but secretly I know those kids just wore me out.  I am lax now to the tenth degree, oh I still love a clean home, and still keep my personal space clean, but the Saturday rituals have long left the agenda. The two (one is off at college) that are left home are just a bit different I realized recently exactly how different they are.

I asked my 16 year old daughter to clean the upstairs for me and introduced her to our new vacuum. She seemed cordial toward the vacuum when I left to run some errands.  Upon my return the vacuum stood staunchly on the top landing exactly where the introduction was made. I requested her presence in the hall, where she appeared immediately. I asked what had happened with the vacuum I though they were going to work together, after all I did add a certain amount of fanfare with the introduction.  Well it would seem my 16 year old daughter could not use the vacuum.  She was baffled by how to turn it on! Oh yes times have changed for me.

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