9:07 pm - Saturday, Aug. 12, 2006
Behind the Toilet
My Mother in Law is coming to visit. This is good. I hardly ever get to visit with her alone. Of course, a visitor means the house must be spanky clean, so today I begin with the bathroom. And as I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing in the far corners behind the toilet with a brush to make sure I get every trace of yuck left behind by the last tenants, I begin to wonder if this is a sickness. Not because cleaning is bad, because it's not. Because no one, not even the dogs, is ever going to examine in the backest corner where I'm scrubbing. Never. Not even if you were hugging the bowl and barfing could you see where I'm scrubbing. So why do I have to get it Perfectly Clean?
Ahhhh... because you're a perfectionist and you like it that way, you say. And of course you're right. I do like knowing that every corner in there is as clean as it can be. So why oh why do I only clean them for other people? I love a clean house. Why don't I ever clean it to please myself?