Cleaning House March 26, 2006
Posted by TimTheFoolMan in Love.trackback
It’s amazing the things that I can get done when I’m motivated. Tonight, various things pushed me over the edge, and I went into “thermonuclear cleanup” mode. My family has a love-hate relationship with this, as it means that the cleanup will be arbitrary but ferocious. The collateral damage may include any number of “we should have kept that” items, but the positives generally outweigh the negatives.
A couple of hours later, the house is by no means completely clean, but some parts of it have been scrubbed with fervor and determination. It’s as if by scrubbing harder, layers and layers of built-up residue will magically disappear, without any damage to the surface underneath.
Unfortunately, caustic cleaners and abrasive solutions always end up doing damage to the original surface along the way. The cleanliness may appear complete, but the surfaces tell a different story up close. Regardless of the cleansing, there always seems to remain a bit of the past… tiny reminders… little surprises that show the cleaning to be superficial at best.
The past remains… it’s impact forever embedded upon today… and I’m glad.
A Fool and his Words are Soon Parted 
The need for the occasional thermonuclear cleaning event is one reason we have events at least twice a year that fill our house with people. Yes, it’s fun to be social and provide fun and food for lots of friends, but being hosts also requires us to attack the clutter and cat hair in a serious way. After the guests have gone, we have superficial clean-up to do, but the house’s base level of neatness is greatly improved. At least, for a week or so…